Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson today announced his resignation as MP, which will take effect immediately.
Johnson resigned after learning of the outcome of the House of Commons inquiry into the Partygate scandal last March.
The scandal relates to parties organized at the Prime Minister’s residence in Downing Street, London, between May 2020 and April 2021, in violation of restrictions imposed by the government itself to combat the coronavirus pandemic. The committee that heard Johnson is called the Privileges Committee: It had to assess whether, at the time of the scandal, Johnson had lied when he said in Parliament that social distancing rules were not being breached at parties in Downing Street.
The committee finally concluded that Johnson had indeed lied to Parliament, and proposed suspending him for more than ten days (the committee has only advisory powers, the final decision rests with Parliament).
Announcing his resignation, in a very heated statement, Johnson commented: “It is with great sadness that I leave Parliament, at least for the moment, but what shocks and baffles me most is that I have been forced to leave, undemocraticly, by a committee chaired and directed by Harriet Harman with partiality.” Shameful. This isn’t the first time Johnson, a Conservative, has accused Harman, a Labor member, of bias against him: They also had a very difficult exchange during the hearing in March.
Johnson also emphasized that the aim of the committee, according to him, “was from the beginning to convict me, regardless of the facts.”
To replace Johnson, a by-election would be held in his constituency, ie Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
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