Partygate: Boris Johnson admits he misled Commons, but ‘in good faith’

 

Partygate: Boris Johnson admits he misled Commons, but ‘in good faith’

 

Former PM’s defence dossier released ahead of parliamentary committee hearing on Wednesday

 

Pippa Crerar Aubrey Allegretti and Jessica Elgot

Tue 21 Mar 2023 12.03 GMT

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/mar/21/boris-johnson-partygate-defence-dossier-published

 

Boris Johnson’s defence dossier of his actions during Partygate, which the former prime minister has said should exonerate him from claims he lied to parliament, has been published.

 

The former prime minister admitted he misled the House of Commons by telling MPs that strict Covid rules and guidance had been followed in No 10 at all times – but said his comments were made “in good faith” and that he would “never have dreamed” of recklessly misleading the house.

 

Johnson added that there was no “smoking gun” that indicated he intentionally misled MPs, writing that “there is not a single document that indicates that I received any warning or advice that any event broke or may have broken the rules of guidance”.

 

The only exception, he said, was from the assertions of his “discredited” former chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, which were not supported by any documentation.

 

However, in its interim report, the committee said the evidence “strongly suggests” breaches of guidance would have been “obvious” to the former prime minister at the time of the gatherings as he both drew up the rules and announced them repeatedly in public.

 

Johnson responds that this amounts to an allegation that he “deliberately” lied to parliament, adding: ”If it was ‘obvious’ to me that the rules and guidance were not being followed, it would have been equally obvious to dozens of others who also attended the gatherings I did.” He said the majority of these did not consider these events to have broken the rules either.

 

He also rejected the suggestion that photographs of events at No 10, which show staff breaching social distancing rules, were problematic, arguing that it was “implausible” he would have allowed the official photographer to take them if he felt they were evidence of law-breaking.

 

The defence has been published before a televised hearing on Wednesday in front of the privileges committee, which will determine if Johnson misled MPs during multiple questions about the conduct of the prime minister and staff that breached lockdown rules during the pandemic.

 

The publication of the 50-page dossier came a day after it was handed to the committee of MPs that will determine if Johnson misled the house.

 

The document has been overseen by Johnson’s lead counsel, David Pannick, and will form the basis of his defence for the five-hour session in front of the committee on Wednesday.

 

On Monday, legal advisers and Commons officials said they were combing through the dossier “in the interests of making appropriate redactions to protect the identity of some witnesses”, a spokesperson for the committee said.