The British parliament on Monday approved the recommendations of the partygate report, which was published last Thursday. The former Prime Minister Johnson who resigned as a member of parliament last week – who celebrates his 59th birthday today – is therefore no longer welcome in parliament. He would also be suspended for 90 days, but Johnson resigned as an MP last week.
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A parliamentary committee of inquiry investigated parties that took place in the official residence of the former prime minister during the corona lockdowns. The report concluded that Johnson deliberately misled MPs about the lockdown parties.
Last week, Johnson received a draft version of the more than 100-page study. The inquiry committee, made up of Conservative Party members and Labor MPs, has evidence of multiple breaches of corona rules at 10 Downing Street. Although Johnson was aware of this, he told parliament that he had not broken the rules. This deception is extra heavy on him, because he did it in his role as prime minister. The committee initially wanted to suspend him as a member of parliament for ten days.
‘Political murder-for-hire’
An enraged Johnson went on the offensive immediately after seeing the report and decided to give up his seat in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. But he didn’t do that without landing a few final blows. “I am not the only one who thinks there is a witch hunt going on to retaliate for Brexit and eventually reverse the result of the 2016 referendum,” he wrote in a statement. He called the investigation “a political assassination,” which he said was aimed at finding him guilty from day one, “despite the facts.”
However, his reaction after seeing the draft version only led the former prime minister into deeper trouble. The commission said Johnson attacked investigators “with grave contempt” and extended the proposed suspension by 80 days. When the report was published last Thursday, the conclusion was: a suspension of ninety days and no longer entitled to a former member pass in the House of Commons.
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