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Boris Johnson continues attack on Sir Bernard Jenkin over partygate
Yesterday, Mr Johnson accused Sir Bernard of “monstrous hypocrisy” after the Guido Fawkes website claimed the MP had gone to a drinks party in Parliament while Covid restrictions were in place in 2020.
It came ahead of the publication of a long-awaited report on the Privileges Committee’s findings on whether the former Prime Minister misled Parliament over the partygate scandal.
The findings of the cross-party committee, published this morning, revealed the former Tory leader committed “repeated contempts” of Parliament by deliberately misleading MPs with his partygate denials before being complicit in a campaign of abuse and intimidation.
The 106-page claims Mr Johnson, who resigned as an MP on Friday, misled the House of Commons by claiming Covid rules and guidance were followed at all times in Number 10 on four separate occasions.
If he had not pre-emptively resigned, the committee said it would have recommended a 90-day suspension from the Commons.
They also suggested the former Conservative Party leader should not be granted a former member’s pass – which is normally available to former MPs, allowing them limited access to Parliament to meet former colleagues.
But despite the findings against Mr Johnson, he has now hit out against the members of the Privileges Committee, including the Harwich MP.
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In a statement issued following the publication of the damning report, Mr Johnson said: “It is now many months since people started to warn me about the intentions of the Privileges Committee.
“Some alarmists even pointed out the majority of the committee voted remain and they stressed Bernard Jenkin’s personal antipathy to me was historic and well-known.
“The committee cannot possibly believe the conclusions of their own report – because it has now emerged Sir Bernard Jenkin attended at least one ‘birthday event’, on December 8, 2020 – the birthday of his wife Anne – when it is alleged alcohol and food were served and the numbers exceeded six indoors.
“Why was it illegal for me to thank staff and legal for Sir Bernard to attend his wife’s birthday party?”
December 2020 saw the re-introduction of a tiered lockdown system which saw London enter the second tier, which prevented individuals from mixing indoors with people from outside their household or support bubble.
Taking a further jab at Sir Bernard, Mr Johnson added: “It is a measure of the committee’s desperation that they are trying incompetently and absurdly to tie me to an illicit event – with an argument so threadbare that it belongs in one of Bernard Jenkin’s nudist colonies.”
Sir Bernard has been approached for comment but has told the Gazette he won’t be commenting at this stage.
