Related video
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox
Get our free View from Westminster email
Boris Johnson has been accused of “Trumpian” behaviour after lashing out at an inquiry investigating whether he misled parliament over Covid lockdown parties.
Announcing he was standing down as an MP, the former prime minister last night branded the privileges committee a “kangaroo court” which he claimed was determined to carry out a political “hitjob” on him.
He also launched a scathing attack on Rishi Sunak, accusing the prime minister of abandoning the pledges on which he said the 2019 election was won.
“It feels to me he is angry and he is convinced by his own truth and his own righteousness,” Will Walden, Mr Johnson’s former press secretary, said earlier.
“There’s no apology, no taking responsibility. It all feels very Trumpian. I think a large part of him actually believes that he really has been done wrong.”
Mr Walden also suggested Mr Johnson had seen the “writing was on the wall” over the Partygate inquiry, which reports say had found Mr Johnson guilty of misleading parliament and recommended a lengthy suspension from the Commons.
Johnson quits over probe into whether he misled parliament
Boris Johnson is resigning as an MP after accusing a Commons investigation into whether he misled Parliament over partygate of attempting to “drive me out”.
The former prime minister, in a statement to the media, compared the Privileges Committee probe to a “kangaroo court” as he announced his intention to step down as MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
He said, after receiving a letter from the committee, he believed it was “determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of Parliament”.
“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 Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias,” he said.
The announcement, coming only hours after his resignation honours list had been published, means the Conservatives are likely to face a tough battle to hold onto the London seat at a by-election.
It was the second by-election triggered on Friday following former culture secretary Nadine Dorries’ decision to quit the Commons immediately, rather than wait until the next election.
We are resuming our earlier political coverage, which had been suspended.
What by-elections mean for Rishi Sunak as Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries step down
And while his Conservative government commands a healthly 24,664 majority in Ms Dorries’ Mid Bedfordshire constituency, the situation is far more precarious in the former prime minister’s seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
The Independent has taken a look at how the Tories’ odds fair in the looming polls. Oliver Pritchard-Jones reports:
Johnson could be suspended again if he stands in another constituency
Boris Johnson could be suspended again if he stands in another constituency, the chair of the Commons privileges committee has said.
Labour’s Chris Bryant said a privileges report can be into the conduct of a former or non member.
“So the idea he’d stand in another seat is for the birds,” Mr Bryant said. “He’d just be suspended again.”
Moment BBC audience erupts in applause at news of Boris Johnson’s resignation
Applause erupted as a BBC Radio 4 audience learned of Boris Johnson‘s resignation during the recording of an Any Questions episode on Friday, 9 June, in Pembrokeshire, Holly Patrick reports.
Host Alex Forsyth relayed the news that the former prime minister announced he is quitting as an MP, claiming he is the victim of a Partygate and Brexit witch-hunt.
Mr Johnson’s resignation came as he received a report by a committee of MPs into whether he misled the Commons over his partygate assurances.
“I really like the guy and I’m sorry he’s gone,” panellist and Conservative minister David TC Davies said to groans from the audience.
Watch: Boris Johnson’s former press secretary reacts to ‘deeply misleading’ resignation letter
Boris Johnson’s former press secretary has described the ex-prime minister’s resignation statement as “Trumpian.”
Speaking to Sky News, Will Walden said his former boss had used the “language of vendetta” in a letter, which he called “deeply misleading in places,” announcing he is to step down as an MP.
Mr Johnson’s resignation came on Friday, 9 June, as he received a report by a committee of MPs into whether he misled the Commons over his partygate assurances.
The former prime minister wrote that he is being “driven” out of Parliament and claimed that he was a victim of a Partygate and Brexit witch-hunt.
Holly Patrick reports:
Johnson’s former press secretary reacts to ‘deeply misleading’ resignation letter
Boris Johnson’s former press secretary has described the ex-prime minister’s resignation statement as “Trumpian.” Speaking to Sky News, Will Walden said his former boss had used the “language of vendetta” in a letter, which he called “deeply misleading in places,” announcing he is to step down as an MP. Mr Johnson’s resignation came on Friday, 9 June, as he received a report by a committee of MPs into whether he misled the Commons over his partygate assurances. The former prime minister wrote that he is being “driven” out of Parliament and claimed that he was a victim of a Partygate and Brexit witch-hunt.
Johnson’s shock announcement came after ‘cronies’ rewarded in ‘sickening’ honours list
Boris Johnson has been accused of a “sickening insult” to the bereaved after he gave honours to allies embroiled in the Partygate scandal, including one dubbed “party Marty”.
Kate Devlin and Archie Mitchell report:
‘No respect for the British public'
Angela Rayner said Boris Johnson had let down those voters who handed him his landslide election victory in 2019, arguing that the former prime minister has shown he had "no respect for the British public".
The deputy Labour leader told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: "I think the people put their trust in him because they thought he was about change and he was about putting them at the heart of decision-making, and he has let them down truly in the most devastating way at the time when they needed him most.
"No one could have predicted what happened to this country during the pandemic, but at the time when the public needed him the most, he basically was partying and lying to them at a time when they couldn’t see their loved ones.
"And that is unforgivable.
"The fact that he cannot recognise the damage that he has done, and he has tried to stuff the Lords with people that propped him up and helped him and assisted him at the time shows us that actually he had no respect for the British public.
"It was all about Boris and it has always been all about Boris to him, and people will be left disappointed by his legacy."
Talk of Johnson comeback ‘feels Trumpian’ - former spokesman
Talk of Boris Johnson’s return as an MP in the future “feels very Trumpian”, his former spokesman has said.
In his resignation letter, Mr Johnson said he was “very sad” to be leaving parliament “at least for now”, fuelling speculation that he could attempt a chicken run to a safer seat.
Will Walden spoke to BBC Radio 4 earlier and also suggested the former PM resigned because he had seen the “writing was on the wall”.
“He knew he probably would lose a by-election in his marginal seat,” Mr Walden said,
“His primary motivation here, as it has been for the last year or so, is protecting his version of the narrative.
"So by going, as he has, all guns blazing, he is able to avoid defeat, he is able to blame pretty much everyone else, including it seems anyone that voted Remain in 2016.”
He added: "There is no plan but he is preparing himself for what might be next without the humiliation of being kicked out.
"But it is so Boris. He told the committee that if they found against him, he wouldn’t respect the outcome - and so it has proved, there is no great surprise here."
Resignation not the end for Johnson - former spokesman
Boris Johnson’s resignation as an MP doesn’t mean the end of his political career, his former spokesman has said.
Will Walden told Radio 4: "I think the most important thing that people need to understand this morning is there is only one thing driving Boris and that is that he likes to win, or at least not to lose.
"And he hasn’t lost an election for 26 years, when the voters of Clwyd South decided he wasn’t their man in 1997.
"I think the first thing to understand is this report clearly threatened to change all that.
"He had seen the writing on the wall, he knew he probably would lose a by-election in his marginal seat. His primary motivation here, as it has been for the last year or so, is protecting his version of the narrative.”
What the papers say - 10 June
Not for the first time, Boris Johnson is dominating UK politics after announcing his resignation last night.
The former prime minister quit after being handed the findings of the Partygate inquiry into whether or not he misled parliament over Covid lockdown breaches.
The news makes most of the front pages. Here’s how some of the papers covered Mr Johnson’s resignation:
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiamh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmluZGVwZW5kZW50LmNvLnVrL25ld3MvdWsvcG9saXRpY3MvYm9yaXMtam9obnNvbi1yZXNpZ25hdGlvbi1tcC1wYXJ0eWdhdGUtbGF0ZXN0LWIyMzU1MDc4Lmh0bWzSAQA?oc=5
2023-06-10 10:34:51Z
2128146545
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar