This sacred party animal of Boris Johnson will have to explain himself. The former Prime Minister will testify in two weeks before the parliamentary commission of inquiry about the parties organized in Downing Street, in violation of the anti-Covid rules, which cast a dark cloud over his political future.
BoJo was forced to resign this summer by a succession of scandals, the first of which was “partygate”. Under investigation, he risks losing his seat as a deputy if it concludes that the former head of government has deceived Parliament.
The exact date of his hearing will be announced soon. The former Conservative leader, already fined by the police, agreed to testify in public the week of March 20.
‘No evidence’ for Johnson
The commission must determine whether Boris Johnson lied in the House of Commons, in particular in December 2021, by asserting to MPs that “the rules were respected all the time”. In a report, the commission underlines that the elements collected “strongly suggest” that the violations of the anti-Covid rules must have been “obvious” for Boris Johnson.
He responded in a statement that there was “no evidence in the report” that he “knowingly” misled Parliament. He further deemed it “surreal” to discover that the commission “proposes to rely on evidence collected and orchestrated” by senior civil servant Sue Gray.
The latter was recently appointed chief of staff to the leader of the Labor Party, Keir Starmer. The commission nevertheless clarified that the report it published on Friday was “not based” on that of Sue Gray.