2023-06-19 22:18:50
Members of the British Parliament, Monday, approved by a wide majority a report accusing former Prime Minister Boris Johnson of lying to Parliament regarding parties he held in “Downing Street” during the period of closure to combat Covid, and they took away his badge to enter Parliament.
On Boris Johnson’s 59th birthday, a majority of the House of Commons supported the conclusions of the Parliamentary Privileges and Sanctions Committee.
The report was endorsed by 354 deputies, while only seven voted once morest it, and many deputies abstained from voting, most of them conservatives.
Boris Johnson, who was forced to resign as prime minister last summer following a series of scandals, most notably “Partigate”, has been deprived of his entrance badge to Parliament, which is usually granted to former prime ministers.
In the 106-page report released Thursday, the committee concluded that he had “misled the House of Commons on a matter of the utmost importance to the House and the public… on several occasions”.
The decision has little impact, but it represents a humiliation for the charismatic and controversial conservative, who called the report a “political assassination.”
Johnson resigned from Parliament following receiving the committee’s report before it was published.
“restore confidence”
According to the British press, the former prime minister called on his supporters to abstain rather than vote “no” on the report.
The Conservatives and the opposition took turns speaking for more than five hours in the House of Commons to give their opinion on the report.
The Minister for Relations with Parliament, Penny Mordaunt, said at the beginning of the session that she would vote in favor of the report, but without imposing any choice on other MPs, saying that “all members must make their own decisions and others must leave them alone in this regard.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose rivalry with Boris Johnson is more prominent than ever, did not attend the debate, saying he did not want to “influence” the vote.
Former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May called on all MPs to vote in favor of the report “to help restore confidence in our parliamentary democracy”.
Labor MP Angela Eagle said Boris Johnson had “escaped accountability for his lies… He made no apology, showed no responsibility.”
On the other hand, MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, who is close to the former prime minister, said that the committee had “deliberately tried to adopt the most negative interpretations … of Johnson’s activities.”
Back to the press
Still popular in his party for overseeing Brexit, the former leader came to office in 2019 following a broad electoral victory.
But according to a poll, 69% of Britons and 51% of Conservative Party voters believe he has in fact lied to parliament.
The former journalist, who is expecting his eighth child, has been publishing a weekly article in the conservative Daily Mail since Friday.
A new video, published by The Mirror newspaper on Sunday, showing members of the Conservative Party dancing at a party during the pandemic in defiance of lockdown rules, has drawn a strong outcry.
This new episode of “Partigate” comes at a time when the Conservative government is under more pressure than ever to rein in inflation and rising interest rates that are driving up rents and mortgages.
While the Conservatives are trailing in the polls once morest the Labor opposition, they will contest four by-elections in the coming months in bad shape, following a new MP, David Warburton, resigned this weekend following being accused of taking drugs and harassing an aide.
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