What ? ! THE party gate ? Isn’t this story over?
Not quite. After the scandal, it’s the verdict. On Thursday, a commission of inquiry found Johnson, 59, guilty of lying to parliament, repeatedly saying that all restrictions had been followed at his Downing Street residence during COVID-19. “He misled the House on a matter of the utmost importance to the House and to the public. And he did it several times,” the commission concludes.
PHOTO ALBERTO PEZZALI, REUTERS
Boris Johnson, then British Prime Minister, at a press conference on restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic, in autumn 2020
Refresh our memory. What exactly had happened?
Johnson was accused of having held parties in Downing Street in May 2020, i.e. in full confinement, and therefore in defiance of the health rules that his government had itself enacted. The report blames him for his repeated lies in the case, which has already earned him a fine from the police and was a major factor in his resignation as prime minister last summer.
How did Boris react?
Evil. In a long, particularly aggressive press release, he said he had done nothing wrong and denounced the “lie” and the “sick” conclusions of the commission. He accuses the latter of having wanted to carry “the last stab of a political assassination”. “It’s a dark day for MPs and for democracy. This decision means that no MP is immune to a blood feud. » Author of the book Boris Johnson, an upset European, Tristan de Bourbon judges that the former Prime Minister is not entirely wrong. “That there is a witch hunt against him, for me, is absolutely undeniable. There are a lot of media, the opposition, and even people in his party who wanted his skin and the party gate gave them the opportunity. Afterwards, what is scandalous is to question the democratic system…”
A little Trump side, right?
The two have sometimes been compared, for their way of twisting the facts and playing with impunity. Johnson is not his first lie. Young journalist, he is fired from the newspaper The Times for making up quotes. In 2004, he was expelled from the leadership of the Conservative Party for having lied about his extramarital affairs. In 2016, he misinformed the British about the costs of Brexit. In 2021, he lies about a wallpaper story in his residence. The list is long…
What is the required punishment this time?
The committee recommends 90 days of suspension to Parliament. But Johnson had already vacated his MP seat last week after being briefed on the upcoming report. The document, which must be debated on Monday by the deputies and then put to the vote, also asks that he be deprived of access to the premises of the Parliament, which former prime ministers normally have. A big slap.
A slap also for the British Conservative Party?
Poor people tories are already in bad shape. The ruling party, now led by Rishi Sunak, is trying somehow to survive until the next elections, scheduled for the end of 2024. The Johnson affair has certainly not helped and the party has a lot of dirty laundry on the board. But according to Tim Bale, professor at Queen Mary University of London, the scenario of a civil war is highly “fanciful”, as BoJo’s support has diminished internally. According to Tristan de Bourbon, the party will rather have to play for unity if it hopes “not to lose seats in 2024”.
Is Boris Johnson politically grilled?
We would be less. But speculating on the death of BoJo is a real “game of crooks”, whistles Tim Bale, so much his gift to bounce back is astonishing. For the moment, the former prime minister has no reason to return to the arena. His lectures earn him millions of pounds and he has just been hired as a columnist by the conservative tabloid The Daily Mail, a contract of “several hundred thousand euros per year”, according to Politico magazine, which is due to start this week. Some nevertheless predict a comeback in politics in a few years. “Not very credible, slice James Mitchell, professor of political science at the University of Edinburgh. Johnson is a great survivor. He got out of several quagmires. But he knows he’s finished. Most people now see clearly in him. I don’t think the party will want him back as leader, even if he still has the support of a small group. They say he is like a cat. But a cat only has nine lives and I think it’s exhausted its entire bank…”
With Agence France-Presse, BBC, The Guardian