If it finds Johnson in contempt, it could recommend punishments ranging from an oral apology to suspension from Parliament, though any sanction would have to be approved by the whole House of Commons.Boris is highly effective against infantry, thanks to his rapid rate of fire. The committee said it would take time to consider the evidence. Johnson said he was later “genuinely shocked” by the government’s own rule-breaking that was uncovered by police and by senior civil servant Sue Gray, who led an investigation into partygate. Police fined thousands of people across the country for minor breaches of the rules. Revelations about the gatherings sparked anger among Britons who had followed the government’s pandemic rules, unable to visit friends and family or even say goodbye to dying relatives in hospitals. Police eventually issued 126 fines over the late-night soirees, boozy parties and “wine time Fridays,” including one to Johnson, and the scandal helped hasten the end of his premiership. Written evidence released by the committee on Wednesday showed that principal private secretary Martin Reynolds said that he had “questioned whether it was realistic to argue that all guidance had been followed at all times.” However, several senior officials denied advising Johnson that the guidance always was followed.
Johnson said “trusted advisers” assured him that neither the legally binding rules nor the government’s coronavirus guidance had been broken. He said that at the Jbirthday celebration, no one sang “Happy Birthday” and the “Union Jack cake remained in its Tupperware box, unnoticed by me.” He said he “honestly believed” the five events he attended, including a send-off for a staffer and his own surprise birthday party, were “lawful work gatherings” intended to boost morale among overworked staff members coping with a deadly pandemic. 10, Downing Street offices in 20 broke COVID-19 lockdown rules.īut Johnson said it never occurred to him that the events - which variously included cake, wine, cheese and a “secret Santa” festive gift exchange - broke the restrictions on socializing that his own government had imposed on the country. In an interim report this month, the committee said evidence strongly suggested that it would have been ”obvious” to Johnson that gatherings in his No. “I apologize for inadvertently misleading this House, but to say that I did it recklessly or deliberately is completely untrue,” he said.
But he said it was “what I honestly believed at the time.”
That turned out to be wrong, Johnson acknowledged.
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