The Privileges Committee are all set to deliver their report into whether Boris Johnson lied to parliament – but there’s a sudden, last-minute twist in the tale. Guido Fawkes – that enduring sore on the national body politic – has revealed tonight that Bernard Jenkin, a member of the panel, attended a lockdown-breaking bash for his wife during the pandemic. It’s prompted Johnson to demand his resignation from the committee, hours before it’s set to deliver a judgement on him.
Sir Bernard has denied attending ‘any drinks parties during lockdown’ – including an event hosted by Deputy Speaker Eleanor Laing in December 2020. Yet now Nadine Dorries (who else?) has written to the committee clerk, prompting an investigation by Chair Harriet Harman. Dame Eleanor told Guido that she held a ‘business meeting’ on that evening, where ‘I was so strict with my 2 metre ruler and told everyone we will adhere to those rules and be very careful.’ Are such assurances more plausible than Johnson’s talk of ‘essential’ No. 10 work parties?
Boris Johnson has now gone public and released the following statement:
If this is true, it is outrageous and a total contempt of Parliament. Bernard Jenkin has just voted to expel me from Parliament for allegedly trying to conceal from Parliament my knowledge of illicit events. In reality, of course, I did no such thing. Now it turns out he may have for the whole time known that he himself attended an event – and concealed this from the privileges committee and the whole House for the last year. To borrow the language of the committee, if this is the case, he ‘must have known’ he was in breach of the rules. Why didn’t he say so?
Jenkin, admittedly, hasn’t lied to the House – but it’s not the best look for a committee member passing judgement on colleagues…
Comments