The British House of Commons Privileges Committee’s report on the “partygate” scandal concluded that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson misled Parliament about parties he held at 10 Downing Street during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such parties were prohibited by pandemic restrictions at the time.
Johnson initially denied that any parties took place, then repeatedly assured lawmakers that rules and guidance were followed at all times. The committee concluded that those assurances were misleading, and that Johnson failed to correct the record when asked to do so.
“We came to the view that some of Mr. Johnson’s denials and explanations were so disingenuous that they were by their very nature deliberate attempts to mislead the Committee and the House, while others demonstrated deliberation because of the frequency with which he closed his mind to the truth,” the committee wrote in a summary of its report. “For these reasons we conclude that Mr. Johnson’s conduct was deliberate and that he has committed a serious contempt of the House. We shared our provisional conclusions with Mr. Johnson on 8 June 2023, inviting him to make further representations.”
In the partygate report, the committee found Johnson’s actions were such a flagrant violation of the rules that it warranted a 90-day suspension from his role as a member of Parliament. However, this conclusion became moot before the report was even released, with Johnson resigning on Friday, June 9.
Johnson released a statement in response to the report insisting that he did nothing wrong.
“The committee now says that I deliberately misled the House, and at the moment I spoke I was consciously concealing from the House my knowledge of illicit events,” Johnson said. “This is rubbish. It is a lie. In order to reach this deranged conclusion, the Committee is obliged to say a series of things that are patently absurd, or contradicted by the facts.”
Johnson’s seat in Parliament will be contested in a special election in July.
