Privileges Committee finds Boris Johnson misled Parliament
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Boris Johnson has been accused of committing a “clear breach” of the rules for failing to follow protocol ahead of announcing his new columnist role at the Daily Mail.
The former prime minister was confirmed as the newspaper’s new “erudite” columnist earlier today, just days after quitting as an MP.
However, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) said Mr Johnson only informed them half an hour before the public announcement.
A spokeswoman for the Acoba said: “The Ministerial Code states that Ministers must ensure that no new appointments are announced, or taken up, before the Committee has been able to provide its advice.
“An application received 30 mins before an appointment is announced is a clear breach.
“We have written to Mr Johnson for an explanation and will publish correspondence in due course, in line with our policy of transparency.”
The latest breach in rules comes after a cross-party committee of MPs found the former prime minister repeatedly lied to Parliament before being complicit in a campaign of abuse and intimidation.
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1686967200Sunak could be spared challenging vote after Johnson calls off supporters
Rishi Sunak may be spared a vote that could enflame the row in the Tory party after Boris Johnson called his supporters off from opposing the investigation that found he lied to MPs over partygate.
The Prime Minister was agonising over his response to the damning Privileges Committee report which will be debated in the Commons on Monday as he seeks to unite his fractious Conservatives.
The report recommended that Mr Johnson should have faced a 90-day suspension had he not already resigned in advance of its judgment.
Though he cannot now serve that, the cross-party group of MPs also recommended that he should be banned from holding a pass to access Parliament for a series of offences.
Eleanor Noyce17 June 2023 03:00
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Voices: If we really want to punish Boris Johnson, let’s kick the greased piglet out of the Tory party
If it is right to, in effect, kick Boris Johnson out of parliament for knowingly lying on at least eight separate occasions, why, one may ask, is it alright for him to be a member of the Conservative Party?
If he were still an MP, then there’d certainly be a case for removing the whip from him; and, now that he’s skipped that particular pen, our greased piglet is still snuffling around the sty.
He is, at the time of writing, a member of the Tory party, throwing his weight around, chucking ordure at Rishi Sunak, making trouble and getting his snout firmly in the trough to find a perpetual leadership campaign.
Eleanor Noyce17 June 2023 02:00
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What the whistleblower saw shames No 10
“Presumably, the same goes for the as-yet unexamined gatherings at Chequers. To the extent the Covid public health precautions weren’t observed (and even Mr Johnson acknowledges there were breaches) no one told him any different – so he says. The impression is given that Downing Street was busy and observing the rules as the norm, and that the various misdemeanours were very much the exception.”
Staff so drunk they slept under their desks and not a mask in sight unless the media were near: the pantomime picture painted by a No 10 insider exclusively to The Independent is very much worse than the one portrayed in the privileges committee report:
Editorial: What the whistleblower saw shames No 10
Staff so drunk they slept under their desks and not a mask in sight unless the media were near: the pantomime picture painted by a No 10 insider exclusively to The Independent is very much worse than the one portrayed in the privileges committee report
Eleanor Noyce17 June 2023 01:00
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SNP urges Ross to ‘grow a backbone’ over Johnson sanctions
The SNP has urged Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross to “grow a backbone” and whip MPs to vote in favour of sanctions against Boris Johnson.
The former prime minister was found by the Privileges Committee to have knowingly misled Parliament in his denials of partygate, with the panel recommending a 90-day suspension, had he not already stepped down as an MP.
Mr Johnson, the committee said, should also not receive a pass for the Parliamentary estate, as is the usual custom for ex-MPs.
Craig Paton has the full story:
Eleanor Noyce17 June 2023 00:01
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Voices: Boris is off his trolley if he thinks he has a hope in hell of a comeback
The Commons privileges committee’s scathing report on Johnson has reasserted parliament’s right to hold ministers to account, and, crucially, ensure they tell the truth. In future, if they mislead parliament inadvertently, they will feel under pressure to correct the record quickly – something Johnson failed to do, the committee found.
It seems to have surprised the ex-PM that some of his own aides have a conscience, says Andrew Grice:
Eleanor Noyce16 June 2023 23:00
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Letters to the editor: The British people have had enough and are no longer fooled
“Soon MPs will have the opportunity to vote on the report by the Privileges Committee on whether Boris Johnson misled parliament and whether or not he undermined democracy by his subsequent reaction to the sight of the report.
I am already sick of the feeble excuses, the attempts to deflect and the faux outrage of Johnson’s supporters as well as the efforts, on social media, to ignite another pathetic culture war. The British people have had enough of this and are no longer fooled.”
Eleanor Noyce16 June 2023 22:15
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Boris breaks the rules again with ‘I’m fat’ column as he reveals taking weight loss jabs
Boris Johnson has committed another “clear breach” of the rules with a column in which he disclosed he has taken the controversial drug alleged to be behind some celebrities’ dramatic weight loss.
In what will be seen as a thinly veiled attempt to settle old scores, the former prime minister also revealed two senior Tories, including a then cabinet minister, have used the medication.
Just a day after he was found to have repeatedly lied to Parliament, the appointments watchdog said he was in “clear breach” of the ministerial rules.
Eleanor Noyce16 June 2023 21:30
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Could Boris Johnson really come back as London mayor?
Following his shock resignation as an MP, and the devastating report by the Commons Committee of Privileges, speculation about Boris Johnson’s future has been swirling around Westminster and beyond. One of the more intriguing rumours is that Johnson may make some sort of bid for the London mayoralty, a post he held from 2008 to 2016. But is it any more than a pipe dream for the Boris cultists?
A second bid to run the capital feels like a flight of fancy, says Sean O’Grady:
Eleanor Noyce16 June 2023 20:45
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Johnson privately urges supporters not to vote against finding he misled parliament
Boris Johnson has privately urged supporters not to vote against a finding he misled parliament in what had been expected to be a Commons showdown next week.
Monday’s vote had been expected to enflame the row within the party after a cross-party MPs recommended Mr Johnson be suspended from the Commons for 90 days.
Such a vote would have left Tory MPs caught between supporting the outcome of an inquiry they set up and facing the wrath of Boris supporting voters.
One Tory MP told The Independent the move shows: “Boris cares after all”.
Eleanor Noyce16 June 2023 20:31
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Revealed: Full extent of boozing, debauchery and blatant Covid rule-breaking inside Boris’s No 10
A former Downing Street official who worked throughout the Covid crisis has revealed the true scale of the drunken debauchery under Boris Johnson – with No 10 parties so wild that staff passed out on the stairway.
They revealed that Mr Johnson was “happy” to have his staff drinking and oversaw a culture of endemic rule-breaking so widespread that it put No 10 at odds with the rest of the country.
The No 10 insider’s new revelations add to the damning evidence in the privileges committee’s scathing report into Mr Johnson – found to have deliberately and repeatedly lied to parliament about Partygate.
Political Correspondent Adam Forrest reports:
Eleanor Noyce16 June 2023 20:00
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-report-house-of-commons-privileges-committee-b2358677.html
