Lockdown parties inquiry is unlawful and biased, says Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson is fighting for his political future as he prepares to spend hours this week being grilled by MPs over the Covid parties.

Boris Johnson faces hours of questioning over the Downing St lockdown parties. Picture: Getty Images.

Boris Johnson will argue on Monday that an inquiry into claims he misled parliament about Downing Street lockdown parties is unlawful and biased as he fights for his political future.

The former prime minister has submitted a legal dossier to the privileges committee, which is due to be published Monday afternoon local time. Johnson will appear before MPs for a four-hour evidence session on Wednesday.

His dossier includes a WhatsApp message from his director of communications at the time that he says substantiates his claim in the Commons that he had been assured no rules or guidance had been broken. It will criticise Harriet Harman, the committee chairwoman, for a series of tweets last year in which she suggested Johnson had misled the Commons and “knowingly lied”. The submission will suggest that these are evidence of political bias and effectively prejudge the inquiry.

Johnson will also argue that the inquiry should adopt a higher burden of proof and establish that there is a “high degree of probability” that he misled the Commons.

His legal team, led by Lord Pannick KC, argues that if the inquiry’s findings were subjected to a judicial review they would be found to be “unlawful”. The committee is protected by parliamentary privilege so cannot be subjected to such a review.

The inquiry threatens to split the Conservative Party as Rishi Sunak is prepared to give his party’s MPs a free vote if the committee decides to sanction Johnson.

If the committee finds against Johnson, he could be suspended from the Commons. A suspension of at least ten days would automatically trigger a recall petition, enabling Johnson’s constituents to force a by-election. Suella Braverman, the home secretary, became yesterday the first minister to indicate that she would oppose sanctions against Johnson but said she would reserve judgment until the committee had published its findings.

Asked whether she agreed with allies of the former prime minister that the inquiry was a “witch-hunt”, she said: “Boris Johnson was a really important leader. He got Brexit done, he delivered the Covid vaccine and he led the UK’s support for Ukraine and for all of those things I’ll be an admirer of his.”

A spokesman for the privileges committee said: “The House of Commons as a whole approved a motion to appoint Harriet Harman to the committee. The other six members, which has a government party majority, then elected her as chair unanimously.”

Johnson’s dossier will refer to a message from Jack Doyle, who was his director of communications, giving him a “line to take” before he told the Commons that no guidance or rules had been broken. The former prime minister will also say that he asked for further reassurances from aides.

The committee has published photographs of Johnson attending events with no social distancing in 2020 and 2021. The committee said that it should have been “obvious” to Johnson that Covid-19 rules were being breached.

Johnson’s lawyers will claim that he attended several leaving drinks as part of his working day, in line with rules at the time. They say that on each occasion he was unaware that rules were being breached. Johnson will also argue that he acted in “good faith” by correcting the record once fines had been issued.

Johnson has also publicly criticised Sue Gray, the author of the report on the parties scandal, who quit the civil service to become the chief of staff for Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader.

Lord Greenhalgh, an ally of Johnson who worked with him at City Hall when he was mayor of London, told Times Radio yesterday that the former prime minister could face a “witch-hunt”.

The Times