Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said ‘sorry’ that he ‘unintentionally’ misled parliament about illegal parties in the official residence during the corona lockdown. But he insists he didn’t do it on purpose. Johnson said this before a parliamentary committee that is investigating his statements about ‘partygate’.
Johnson defended himself on Wednesday before the committee investigating whether Johnson deliberately misled parliament when he said that no rules had been broken in his office and official residence. There, the staff held parties during the corona lockdowns. “Hand on my heart, I have not lied to the House of Commons.”
Johnson apologized for “accidentally misleading” parliament, but insisted it was not intentional. He said he made his statements “in good faith and on the basis of what I honestly knew and thought at the time.”
Clearly unfair
He regrets that it later turned out that the rules had indeed been violated, but that is not part of the investigation now. In Johnson’s eyes there is no evidence that he has misled parliament and he calls the accusation “clearly unfair”.
The former prime minister thinks that the committee is nevertheless out to demonstrate that he must have known about the violations of the corona measures. According to the conservative politician, the committee only comes up with evidence that points in that direction and the rest has not been published.
Conversations with staff
On Wednesday, the committee revealed what conversations it has had in recent months with staff from 10 Downing Street, among others. Some of them do indeed suggest that Johnson must have known that parties were being held and that it was not going according to guidelines.
Despite the fact that Johnson is no longer prime minister, the partygate scandal continues to cling to him. If the commission sanctions him for misleading parliament, it could lead to a new election in his district. If Johnson is voted out there, he will lose his seat in the House of Commons.
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