'Hand on heart, I did not lie to you': Boris comes out swinging in bid to save career before MPs pass judgement
22 March 2023, 17:19
Boris Johnson has told MPs on a committee that could decide his political future that "hand on heart, I did not lie" about partygate.
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The former PM spent hours defending himself to the Privileges Committee, having said that information he gave to Parliament late in 2021 "honest but inadvertently misleading statements".
He had told the House then: "What I can tell the right honourable and learned gentleman is that all guidance was followed completely in No10."
He also said: "I have been repeatedly assured since these allegations, assured that there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken.
"I apologise for the impression that has been given that staff in Downing Street take this less than seriously."
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While he has admitted misleading the House of Commons, he denies doing so recklessly or intentionally.
He said he took "full responsibility" for what happened at Downing Street during his time there.
But during his committee appearance, he said: "But as you have said... the purpose of this inquiry is not to reopen so-called partygate.
"It is to discover whether or not I lied to Parliament, willingly misled colleagues and the country about what I knew and believed about those gatherings when I said the rules and the guidance had been followed at No 10.
"I'm here to say to you hand on heart that I did not lie to the House.
"When those statements were made, they were made in good faith and on the basis on what I honestly knew and believed at the time."
The Privileges Committee took turns grilling him about various events, showing him photos and asking if he knew the rules at the time and whether he realised they were breaking guidance.
Mr Johnson repeatedly denied this, and again repeated his claims that he believed they were above-board and relied on advice he received which told him they were fine.
He said it was "nonsense" to claim that it should have been "obvious" to him that the events broke rules, and added that if he had believed they were wrong he would not have got them pictured by the official No10 photographer.
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He told the MPs that he does not think it "can seriously mean" to accuse him of lying.
"If it was obvious to me that these events were contrary to the guidance and to the rules then it must have been equally obvious to the dozens of others including the most senior officials in the country," he said.
He told them the "overwhelming evidence" the committee has assembled is "that these individuals believed that the rules and the guidance were being complied with".
He said: "You are not only accusing me of lying, you are accusing all those civil servants, advisers, MPs, of lying about what they believed at the time to be going on, and as far as I know you're not giving any of them the chance to explain themselves with their own oral evidence.
"I don't think you seriously mean to accuse those individuals of lying and I don't think you can seriously mean to accuse me of lying."
Mr Johnson will need to wait to see what the Privileges Committee decides.
If it does believe he intentionally or recklessly misled Parliament, it can recommend sanctions for MPs to vote on in the Commons.
This could include a lengthy suspension which could even trigger a by-election in Mr Johnson's Uxbridge seat.
Such a damning find could seriously hamper Mr Johnson's future prospects at the top of politics.
