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| Boris Johnson: I've been forced out over Partygate report | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Boris Johnson was fined for attending a birthday gathering in the Cabinet Room in 2020 | |
| Boris Johnson is to step down as an MP with immediate effect after receiving the Partygate report. | Boris Johnson is to step down as an MP with immediate effect after receiving the Partygate report. |
| That report by the MP-led Privileges Committee looked into whether he misled Parliament over lockdown-breaking parties at Downing Street. | That report by the MP-led Privileges Committee looked into whether he misled Parliament over lockdown-breaking parties at Downing Street. |
| Mr Johnson accused the Commons inquiry of attempting to "drive me out". | Mr Johnson accused the Commons inquiry of attempting to "drive me out". |
| In a statement he said: "They have still not produced a shred of evidence that I knowingly or recklessly misled the Commons." | In a statement he said: "They have still not produced a shred of evidence that I knowingly or recklessly misled the Commons." |
| Earlier on Friday, he received a copy of the yet-to-be-published report, which he claimed was "riddled with inaccuracies and reeks of prejudice". | |
| In evidence given to the Privileges Committee in March, Mr Johnson admitted misleading Parliament, but denied doing it on purpose. | |
| He said social distancing had not been "perfect" at gatherings in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns. | |
| But he said they were "essential" work events, which he claimed were allowed. | |
| He insisted the guidelines - as he understood them - were followed at all times. | |
| Follow live: Boris Johnson resigns as MP | |
| In a lengthy statement issued after stepping down on Friday evening, the former prime minister said: "I did not lie, and I believe that in their hearts the committee know it." | |
| "They know perfectly well that when I spoke in the Commons I was saying what I believed sincerely to be true and what I had been briefed to say, like any other minister," he said. | "They know perfectly well that when I spoke in the Commons I was saying what I believed sincerely to be true and what I had been briefed to say, like any other minister," he said. |
| Mr Johnson said he corrected the record as soon as possible, and said committee members "know that". | Mr Johnson said he corrected the record as soon as possible, and said committee members "know that". |
| He condemned the committee as a "kangaroo court", and claimed that its "purpose from from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts". | |
| His statement said: "It is very sad to be leaving Parliament - at least for now - but above all I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically, by a committee chaired and managed, by [Labour MP] Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias." | |
| His resignation will trigger a by-election in his constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip. | |
| Mr Johnson was prime minister from July 2019 until September 2022, and has been an MP since 2001. | |
| Related Topics | |
| Boris Johnson |