Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who had already resigned last year as prime minister, announced this Friday (9) that he will also step down as an MP.
In a statement, Johnson said he took the decision after receiving a letter from a House of Commons committee investigating whether he lied to the British Parliament about the so-called Partygate – the scandal in which members of the UK government attended parties while the rest of the population was subjected to the lockdowns of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The now-former MP said the letter made “clear, to my surprise, that they are determined to use the process against me to expel me from Parliament”.
Johnson claimed that the committee’s Partygate report, which has yet to be released, “is riddled with inaccuracies and smacks of prejudice, but under their absurd and unfair process, I have no formal capacity to challenge anything they say.”
With the departure of the MP, the Borough of Uxbridge and South Ruislip will have an immediate by-election to choose a new representative.
Johnson, who had resigned as prime minister in 2022 due to pressure from Partygate, testified in March this year before the House of Commons Privileges Committee.
On the occasion, he argued that he did not lie to Parliament, when he was still prime minister, when he said that the anti-Covid measures in force had been followed. “I’m here to say frankly that I didn’t lie (…). When these statements were made, they were made in good faith and based on what I knew and honestly believed at the time,” he stated.
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