Boris Johnson admits misleading parliament over lockdown parties

London: Former British prime minister Boris Johnson has acknowledged he misled the House of Commons – albeit unintentionally – over coronavirus rule breaches, while also lashing out at the parliamentary committee established to probe his conduct.

Johnson’s 52-page written submission to the House of Commons privileges committee said he had made “honest but inadvertently misleading statements” that he had subsequently corrected, but “would never have dreamed” of doing so deliberately.

Boris Johnson’s downfall as prime minister was linked to his partying while Britain was in lockdown.Credit: AP

The privileges committee launched its probe after an independent inquiry into the so-called partygate scandal, which blamed a “failure of leadership and judgement” for the lockdown-busting parties that took place at 10 Downing Street during the COVID pandemic.

For months the committee has investigated whether Johnson knowingly misled MPs when he told them in late 2021 that no COVID rules had been broken at parties. After investigations, the Metropolitan Police issued 126 fines for COVID law breaches to 83 people over eight government events, including a notorious “bring-a-bottle” party in the garden of the prime minister’s office.

Police fined Johnson and multiple other aides and fellow MPs, including current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in April, for their part in the events. The issue played a major part in Johnson’s downfall eventually leading to a mass cabinet revolt and his resignation.

Johnson said he took “full responsibility” for everything that took place on his watch at Downing Street, conceding “of course true” that his statements in the House of Commons - that the COVID rules and guidance had been followed at all times - turned out not to be correct.

“I was not trying to conceal these events because I believed that there was nothing to conceal or cover up,” Johnson wrote in his defence, released by the committee a day before he appears in person before it.

“If someone had known or believed that the rules or guidance had been broken . . . you would expect that there would have been contemporaneous documents recording this,” he wrote. “There is absolutely nothing.”

He faces being suspended or even expelled from parliament, if MPs decide he deliberately misled them despite his assurances that lockdown rules had been followed were made in “good faith”. Conservative MPs will be given a free vote on any recommendations, meaning they will not be told how to vote by party leadership.

Boris Johnson leaves his home on March 21, 2023.Credit: Getty

The committee has maintained it should have been obvious to Johnson that a series of parties at his official residence broke rules against socialising during the pandemic. The group, which is considering whether Johnson “intentionally or recklessly” misled parliament in a series of statements about lockdown rule-breaking, has the power to recommend sanctions.

Johnson was found to have breached laws at his own birthday party, held in June 2020, which made him the first serving British prime minister to be found to have broken the law. When news of the birthday party broke, one of the prime minister’s supporters said Johnson had been “ambushed with cake”.

But his submission, prepared with Lord Pannick KC, whose legal fees are being paid by the government, said the committee had gone beyond its remit by referring not just to whether Downing Street staff had complied with COVID regulations, but also by looking at whether stricter guidance had been followed.

The committee said Johnson’s evidence had been submitted late, included uncorrected errors and contained “no new documentary evidence”.

Johnson insisted he had relied on advice from officials that assured him the events were permitted.

“As prime minister, I am reliant on advice from officials,” Johnson wrote in his statement. “There is nothing reckless or unreasonable about that.”

He said “everyone around me” also believed the rules were being followed, citing Martin Reynolds, his principal private secretary, James Slack, his official spokesman, and Jack Doyle, his director of communications.

“The overwhelming majority of the witnesses who have given evidence to the committee have made it clear that, at the time, they considered that the rules and/or guidance were being complied with in No.10,” he wrote.

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