Boris Johnson endures high-risk ‘partygate’ grilling

Adriana Lima
By Adriana Lima 5 Min Read
origin 1A protester displays a poster near Parliament in London on Wednesday, March 22, 2023. ©AP Photo

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson testified on Wednesday at a parliamentary inquiry into Downing Street parties during the pandemic.

Boris Johnson, who resigned in July after a string of scandals including partygate, vowed to tell “the whole truth” by placing his hand on a Bible at the start of the four-hour hearing.

Johnson denies knowingly lied, but if found to have done so, he could be suspended or even lose his seat in Parliament.

He told the committee the events that broke government rules were wrong and “I regret it bitterly” but added: “To tell the truth… I didn’t lie to the House.”

Johnson acknowledges that his insistence that the rules were always followed turned out to be false. But he says he has never “knowingly or recklessly” deceived Parliament.

“You have found nothing to show that I was warned in advance that the events at No. 10 (Downing St.) were illegal,” he told the committee in an opening statement.

A political career at stake?

Expected to last several hours, the hearing is a moment of peril for a politician whose career has been a roller coaster of scandals and comebacks. If the House of Commons Privilege Committee concludes that Johnson has lied deliberately, he could be suspended or even lose his seat in Parliament.

That would likely end hopes of another comeback for the 58-year-old politician, who led the Conservative Party to a landslide victory in 2019 but was forced out of his own party in July 2022 after becoming mired in scandals over money, ethics and judgment.

origin 1A protester holds up a painting depicting Boris Johnson outside Downing Street in London, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

In an interim report this month, the committee – made up of Conservative and opposition lawmakers – said the evidence strongly suggested it would have been “obvious” to Johnson that meetings at his Downing Street offices in 2020 and 2021 would break the COVID-19 lockdown rules.

Johnson acknowledged on Tuesday that his repeated assurances to Parliament that the rules were being followed at all times “have not proved correct”. But he said he “did not intentionally or recklessly mislead” lawmakers.

Blind trust in his “trusted advisers”

In a dossier of written evidence, Johnson said it never occurred to him that the gatherings — which variously included cake, wine, cheese, and a “Secret Santa” holiday gift exchange — broke the restrictions on socializing that the his own government had imposed on the country.

She said she “honestly believed” the five events she attended, including a greeting for a staffer and her surprise birthday party, were “legal business meetings”.

“No cake was eaten and no one even sang ‘Happy Birthday,'” she said of the June 19, 2020 celebration.

origin 1A protester holds up a painting depicting Boris Johnson outside Downing Street in London, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP

Johnson said he had been assured by “trusted advisers” that neither legally binding rules nor government guidance on the coronavirus had been breached.

However, several senior officials denied informing Johnson that guidance had always been followed.

Cherry on the cake

Police eventually issued 126 fines for late nights, boozy parties and ‘wine hour Fridays’, including one to Johnson, and the scandal helped hasten the demise of the premiership.

The revelations about the gatherings have sparked anger among Britons who had followed the rules imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, unable to visit friends and family or even say goodbye to dying relatives in hospitals.

Johnson and his supporters also questioned Gray’s impartiality, because he has now taken a job as chief of staff to the leader of the opposition Labor Party.

If the committee finds Johnson in contempt, it could recommend punishments ranging from an oral apology to suspension from Parliament, though any punishment would have to be approved by the entire House of Commons.

A suspension of 10 days or more would allow his constituents in the London suburban seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip to petition for a special election to replace Johnson as a Member of Parliament.

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