The key points in the former PM’s attack on committee members’ integrity, evidence and conclusions
Boris Johnson has launched an extraordinary fightback as he tries to wrestle back control of the narrative after the privileges committee released its report concluding that he deliberately misled parliament.
A 1,700-word statement from the former prime minister sought to rip apart their findings – impugning the committee’s integrity, evidence and conclusions. This is what he said, scrutinised in detail:
Johnson began his letter by trying to sow doubt about the credibility of the committee. His allies talked of “bias” by the chair Harriet Harman and pointed to tweets from her. In one, she shared a post by Alastair Campbell accusing Johnson of lying. In a second, Harman wrote that if Johnson and Rishi Sunak accepted police fines then that would amount to an admission that they had misled the Commons.
The committee found it was “unlikely” he genuinely believed the parties were within the guidance. Johnson sought to claim that if he thought the events were within the rules and guidance, then he could not have misled parliament when they turned out to be in breach of both. But the suggestion stretched beyond the credulity of the committee, and many others.
