BORIS IN PARTYGATE SHOWDOWN WITH MPS

HE IS GRILLED BY COMMITTEE HOURS AFTER IT PUBLISHES NEW EVIDENCE FORMER PM INSISTS HE DID NOT DELIBERATELY MISLEAD COMMONS

- Nicholas Cecil and Rachael Burford

 

BORIS JOHNSON locked horns with senior MPs today over whether he intentionally or recklessly misled Parliament over the partygate scandal. 

In a high-octane showdown, the Commons privileges committee published a 110-page dossier at 9am covering areas which they were due to grill the ex-PM on this afternoon. The hearing, which was due to last up to four hours, could determine Mr Johnson’s political future.

Ahead of it, he and the committee exchanged heavy blows. The committee claimed in a report published on March 3 that evidence strongly suggested that breaches of Covid guidance would have been obvious to Mr Johnson at the time he was at No10 gatherings.

But he hit back, accusing the MPs of straying beyond the remit given to them by the Commons on the basis that they should be probing whether he breached Covid regulations, not the guidance.

He has also accused the inquiry of being biased, claims rejected by the committee.

The former premier has admitted misleading Parliament over parties in No 10 when Britain was in lockdown or under other Covid restrictions. But he denies doing so intentionally, insisting what he told MPs had been in “good faith”.

As Mr Johnson was thrust back into the spotlight over partygate, he also put himself at the helm of a revolt against Rishi Sunak’s plans for postBrexit Northern Ireland trade ties.