Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has admitted to having misled the House of Commons, though not intentionallywhen he declared about the parties at 10 Downing Street in the midst of the health crisis caused by the pandemic, in the framework of the case known as ‘Partygate’ and that ended up accelerating his resignation.
“I did not intentionally or recklessly mislead the House on December 1, 2021, December 8, 2021 or on any other date,” he said in the written defense sent to the parliamentary committee that investigate his management of that crisis and that has been published this Tuesday, one day before he has to appear before it.
“I accept that the House of Commons was misled by my statements that the rules had been fully followed in number 10, but when the statements were made, were made in good faith and on the basis of what I honestly knew and believed at the time”, Johnson has justified himself.
In this sense, Johnson has assured that “there is no evidence whatsoever” to support that he “intentionally or recklessly misled the House” and that in fact there is evidence that those who worked at the time in Downing Street believed “honestly” that the rules of the health authorities were being followed.
Throughout his defense, Johnson has made reference to some of the meetings that were held in what was his official residence and that were in the spotlight due to the health situation at that time, such as his birthday, on the 19th of June 2020, or that of May 20 of that same year in which about thirty people attended.
Regarding the first, Johnson argues that It “never” occurred to him that they would be breaking the rules, because it was not “a small meeting” in which all its attendees lived and worked in the same building. “It was a sandwich lunch. I wasn’t told beforehand, no cake was eaten and no one sang ‘happy birthday,'” she said.
In the second, an event attended by some 30 people out of about a hundred who received the invitation, Johnson has alleged that it was “a socially distanced outdoor gathering to boost staff morale and teamwork after what had been a very difficult period,” as reported by the BBC.
“From my point of view, it was an opportunity to thank the staff and boost morale was essential for work purposes,” Johnson said of an event he attended “less than half an hour” and which, according to a police investigation Metropolitan London, did not breach the rules in force at the time.
The ‘Partygate’ ended up accelerating Johnson’s resignation on September 6, 2021, amid pressure from his own colleagues in the face of the discredit that the Conservative Party was acquiring due to this and other scandals under his mandate.
In the event that this parliamentary committee – chaired by Labor Harriet Harman although with a conservative majority – that investigates what happened in those months of pandemic in the official residence of Downing Street considers that Johnson knowingly lied to the House of Commons, it could recommend his suspension and thus strip him of the seat he currently holds for the Uxbridge constituency in north-west London.
