MPs investigating Boris Johnson’s actions during the “partygate” scandal warned on Friday that “strong” evidence suggested that breaking coronavirus guidelines would be “clear” for the prime minister and his aides.
The cross-party privilege committee is examining whether Johnson deliberately misled the House of Commons in his account of the scandal, which focuses on illegal meetings in Downing Street and Whitehall during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
Johnson is expected to give oral evidence later this month.
In a report published on Friday, MPs noted that the Commons “may have been misled” on several occasions such as on December 8, 2021 when Johnson told parliament that he “relied on repeated assurances that the rules had not been broken”.
“The evidence strongly suggests that the breach of the instructions was clear to Mr Johnson when he was at the meeting,” the MPs wrote. “There is evidence that those who advised Mr Johnson on what to say to the press and in the House themselves struggled to confirm that some of the meetings were within the rules.”
The committee, which began its investigation in June 2022, will produce its final conclusions after Johnson’s oral evidence, the lawmaker added.