Brexit architect Boris Johnson quits Parliament
LONDON — Boris Johnson, the former British prime minister and a key architect of Brexit, resigned as a member of Parliament on Friday evening after an investigation concluded that he misled lawmakers about boozy parties held at No. 10 Downing St. during COVID-19 lockdowns.
In a blistering resignation letter, Johnson maintained “I did not lie,” and said he was “bewildered and appalled” at being “forced out.”
“I am not alone in thinking that there is a witch hunt under way, to take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result,” he wrote.
Johnson’s premiership was undone by the scandal known as “Partygate” — a string of government gatherings that took place when pandemic restrictions barred most socializing and even kept people from funerals. Johnson himself was fined by police for attending one party — a birthday celebration hosted by his wife — and so was current prime minister Rishi Sunak.
But it wasn’t just the parties that got Johnson in trouble — it was his answers to Parliament about whether the parties happened at all, and, if so, whether he knew they broke the rules.
Johnson was the first British leader in recent history to be investigated for intentionally misleading his colleagues. It is a serious transgression that can lead to suspension or expulsion from Westminster.
British media reported the committee had recommended a suspension of more than 10 days, which could have led to his recall. Johnson’s resignation, effective immediately, preempts such a punishment while also triggering a special election in his constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
Johnson’s announcement came hours after he nominated some of his allies for the House of Lords and was the ultimate Friday night news dump. It was overshadowed internationally by the indictment against former President Donald Trump and by the counteroffensive in Ukraine.
But Johnson, always the showman, apparently couldn’t resist a barbed sign-off letter dripping with grievance — including some Trumpian flourishes.
He accused the Privileges Committee — led by a Labour Party chairwoman, yes, but containing a 4-to-3 majority of members from Johnson’s own Conservative Party — of bias against him.
“Their purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts. This is the very definition of a kangaroo court,” Johnson wrote.
“They have still not produced a shred of evidence that I knowingly or recklessly misled the Commons,” he said.
A spokesman for the committee said Johnson’s resignation letter “departed from the processes of the House and has impugned the integrity of the House by his statement.”
Johnson, a former journalist who later served as mayor of London, has long had a reputation for a loose relationship with the truth. His honesty was an issue, too, when he was pushed out as prime minister last year. Fellow Conservative lawmakers were tired of how often he left them out to dry — and they were worried Johnson, once a celebrated vote-getter, would start to hurt their election chances.
Johnson in his resignation letter said his party was to blame for its falling fortunes.
“When I left office last year the government was only a handful of points behind in the polls. That gap has now massively widened,” he wrote. “Just a few years after winning the biggest majority in almost half a century, that majority is now clearly at risk.”
The problem, he wrote, was that Conservatives had become too timid to realize the lofty goals of Brexit — which he noted had received the votes of 17 million people.
“Why have we so passively abandoned the prospect of a Free Trade Deal with the U.S.?” Johnson asked rhetorically.
That was a swipe at Sunak, who met with President Joe Biden at the White House this week.
Johnson, it should be noted, also failed to get such a deal.
As bad as Friday was for Johnson, this might not be the end of his career in electoral politics. “It is very sad to be leaving Parliament — at least for now,” he wrote near the end of his letter.