Boris Johnson resigns: In a shocking move, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stunned the nation on Friday by abruptly resigning as a member of parliament. According to reports, his move came after a parliamentary committee told him he would be sanctioned for misleading parliament on lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street during his premiership. Johnson was under investigation as part of a parliamentary inquiry into the ‘Party Gate’ affair.
Johnson accuses Commons probe of trying to “outsmart me”
On Friday, Johnson (58) received a confidential letter from the MP-led Privileges Committee on the important matter. He accused the Commons inquiry of trying to “outsmart me”.
In a statement, he said: “They still have not produced a shred of evidence that I intentionally or negligently misled the Commons.” After receiving a copy of the report to be published early Friday, he claimed it was “replete with mistakes and smacks of bias”.
He admitted to misleading Parliament
Johnson has admitted misleading Parliament but denies knowingly doing so. He claimed social distancing was not “correct” at gatherings in Downing Street during the COVID lockdown. However, he called them “essential” work programs and claimed they were allowed to.
Announcing that he would step down, Johnson issued a lengthy statement in which he said: “I did not lie, and I believe in their hearts the committee knows it.” “They are well aware that when I spoke in the Commons I was saying what I sincerely believed to be true and what I was briefed to say, just like any other minister,” he said. Johnson said he corrected the record as quickly as possible, and claimed that committee members “knew it”.
Johnson on Sage Sunak
He added that the “current prime minister and then occupant of the same building, Rishi Sunak” also believed they were “legally working together”.
Johnson denounced the committee as a “kangaroo court”, and claimed that its “objective from the beginning has been to find me guilty regardless of the facts”.
(with inputs from AP)
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