Former British Prime Minister accused of deliberately misleading parliament

The Privileges Committee, the main disciplinary body of the British parliament , on June 15 released a more than 100-page investigation report, concluding that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson had repeatedly misled parliament when asked about gatherings at the prime minister's office during the UK's nationwide lockdown due to Covid-19.

Boris Johnson leaves his home in London in March

According to Reuters, the committee accused Mr. Johnson of deliberately misleading the House and the committee, breaching confidence, attacking the committee and undermining the democratic process of the House, and being complicit in a campaign of abuse and intimidation of the committee.

"This contempt is all the more serious because it was committed by a prime minister , the most senior member of the government. No prime minister has ever been found to have deliberately misled the House of Commons," the committee concluded.

The committee rejected Mr Johnson's claims that the gatherings did not breach the rules and accused him of being deliberately dishonest in his interpretation of his statements in the House of Commons.

The Privileges Committee, which includes members from both the ruling Conservative Party and the opposition Labour Party, said Mr Johnson should be suspended from the House of Commons for 90 days if he were still an MP. "We recommend that he should not be granted a former member's licence," referring to the licence that allows Mr Johnson to enter parliament.

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Last week, Mr Johnson resigned as an MP after seeing a copy of the report. The former prime minister called the investigation into him a witch hunt. "I believe these events were absolutely necessary for the purposes of our work. We managed a pandemic. But don't just listen to me, listen to the Metropolitan Police. The police investigated my role in all of these events and they found no wrongdoing on my part," Mr Johnson said.

The politician called the committee's report "rubbish", "lies" and "fake", and accused its members of having a grudge against him.

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