Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his resignation from Parliament on Friday evening, in connection with the parliamentary investigation into the “Party Gate” scandal, that is, the events hosted by the Downing Street headquarters in violation of health restrictions related to Covid-19.
Johnson, 58, confirmed that his decision would take effect immediately, which means holding by-elections that will put more political pressure on current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
A year after his exclusion from Downing Street by the hands of his majority, following three years in power that witnessed a series of scandals, Johnson remained under parliamentary investigation to determine whether he had misled Parliament in the “Partygate” case.
This action is being led by the Parliamentary Privileges Committee, which is in the process of winding down and has just presented its conclusions to the former leader, according to the British press.
blatant bias
In turn, the former Conservative prime minister wrote in a statement that he was astonished to receive “a letter from the Privileges Committee which clearly states … that it is determined to use the measure against me to remove me from parliament”.
“I am very sad to leave Parliament – at least for the time being – but above all I resent that I was forced to leave in an undemocratic way,” he said, accusing the committee of “egregious bias”.
In the statement, he also accused the commission of issuing an unpublished report “full of inaccuracies and reeking of bias” without him having “any formal opportunity to challenge what they say.”
It is noteworthy that Johnson was forced to resign from the premiership last summer, after a series of scandals, foremost of which were parties in Downing Street during the period of health restrictions imposed to curb Covid-19.
