22nd March, the Commons Privileges Comittee investigation into Partygate

[DuncinToffee]

Live on BBC Parliament 2-6pm

Some background information

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62009458

https://news.sky.com/story/partygate-inquiry-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-investigation-into-boris-johnson-12805474

https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainer/privileges-committee-investigation-boris-johnson

😂

Hasn’t Johnson already been sacked twice for lying? Also he regularly lied to his second wife about the numerous affairs he was having. He lied about Brexit numerous times during the vote, he lied, on camera, to people who live in N Ireland, saying they’d never have to fill in a form to trade with the rest of the Uk. And these are just the lies I can remember, why would anyone believe a word he says?

I think I heard Lord Finkelstein, Conservative peer, say on the PM programme something very like “if he (Johnson) isn’t the definition of a liar, who is?”.

my OP on anther thread about Johnson's lies

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0014rmb
www.bbc.co.uk/news/60245483
On at least 9 occasions, Boris Johnson stood up in Parliament and claimed there were more people employed in 2021than before the pandemic. The truth was that the employment numbers were at least 600 000 lower, and had suffered the largest fall in over 30 years
Will Moy, Chief executive of the independent fact checking organisations "Full Fact" personally informed him at least 6 times that he was misleading parliament, and the normal procedure would be to expect the MP who had "inadvertently" given false information to correct it at the first possible opportunity, but Boris Johnson repeated the lie, knowingly, again, and again and again.
24/11/21,then 15/12/11,then 5/1/22/ then 12/1/22/then19/1/22 etc.
Similarly, the independent Office for statistics regulation informed Boris Johnson that his oft repeated statement that crime was down 14 % was wrong, it was in fact UP 14%
I am writing to my MP to ask why only one lies is being investigated, when there is proof of constant, deliberate lying in parliament.
It might be a couple of years ago now, but I don't think we can afford to allow people like this to treat the whole parliamentary system with such contempt and get away with it.

JRM appears to have confused the British constitution with an episode of Big Brother. Easy mistake to make.

It's ridiculous that it will take until the summer to come to a conclusion. They should be able to decide today. It's a kangaroo court made up of pompous MPs who should be out working for their constituents. They shouldn't be allowed to spend months navel gazing and pontificating on this. If they were there yesterday and heard what Johnson had to say then they should meet and make their decision today. I know i can make mine after watching his ridiculous performance on tv yesterday. Why can't they? A complete waste of time and money.

Haha good one! I love these parody accounts that slip in here, you nearly had me there!

they wont spend months on it. They will spend an hour or two here and there, they have other evidence to view, other interviews to conduct etc and for the other 99.9% of their time, they have other parliamentary work to do.

And this is working for their constituents.

are you real?

@Nimbostratus100 of course I'm real. They have the Sue Grey report. They've seen Johnson's account of himself. Debating it for hours doesn't change the outcome. They can review the transcripts of yesterday and make a decision. It doesn't have to take months and multiple meetings.

If they were running their own business they would just get on with it.

Why not abolish our pesky kangaroo Parliament, its pesky kangaroo committees and all its other pesky kangaroo processes then, and leave it all to you in your front room with your TV set then? It would save a lot of money that could be put into the NHS, which of course you would have to run as well.

The reason the conclusion won’t be published until the summer is so it doesn’t affect voting in the local elections in May. Since the voting public has already concluded Johnson’s guilty as sin it does seem a bit pointless.

@borntobequiet I'm not saying the process is wrong. Johnson must be held to account. But it simply doesn't have to take months. It's amazing how things can take a long time when other people's money is being spent. They need to justify why it will take so long.

If they can't make up their minds based on what Johnson said yesterday then what was the point of it?

I think we'd all like decisions to be made earlier. But if it were made before the May elections there would be an outcry because maybe you and others would be saying it affects polling.

Calling it a 'kangaroo court' is so wrong. In fact it's disturbing. Yesterday's committee members hold a tory majority, it is staffed by impartial officials and advised by a senior judge. Parliament is there to hold the government to account. Do you not want our Government answerable to anyone?

It's very very telling that Johnson more or less said he would agree that it's wrong to question the validity of the Committee, but only if he is found innocent of misleading the House.
That tells us all we need to know.

It's already been explained that the committee asked for additional information from Johnson and he will need time to prepare that.

By which stage we'll be in pre election purdah.

Both the Government & Johnson have repeatedly dragged their heels producing evidence - they were asked last July/August and didn't respond until very late 2022. If anyone is responsible for delays it's them.

If they hurry along the process then Johnson will complain even more then he has already.

You described it as a kangaroo court, the MPs on it as pompous navel gazers and said you could do it better yourself. You said that a decision on what is an important constitutional issue on holding ministers accountable for their behaviour could be made in a day. If you want to be taken seriously, ditch the hyperbole.

The committee have given themselves time to consider the evidence. That's the opposite of a kangaroo court.

@borntobequiet I'm entitled to have a view. I did not say I could do it better myself. I said I could make up my mind based on what Johnson said yesterday. I suspect many other individuals feel the same.

And what would your decisions be on Johnson if you could make up your mind just like that on yesterday?

Maybe his fate could be decided on phone voting or summat. As a PP said, considering the hearing and carefully reading all that is put forward, is the opposite of a 'kangaroo court'. To decide yesterday based on his bluster would have him banged to rights I'm sure... and that would be a kangaroo court.

For everyone that missed it. Here is the exchange about the wording 'kangaroo court' by his supporters.

To cut to the chase, watch from 5minutes onwards.

I think he makes it perfectly clear he is not in front of a kangaroo court but only if he is exonerated.

https://twitter.com/implausibleblog/status/1638624188867944461

Having read different opinions on yesterday's inquiry, most if them are picking up on the fact that Johnson's advice he acted on came from political appointees and not from lawyers or senior civil servants.

I apologise for using the term Kangaroo Court. It wasn't appropriate in this context.

I also want to make it clear that I am not a supporter of Johnson. I lost a very close family member and was unable to be either at their deathbed or be at their funeral. They died alone with their only living relative unable to be there. While those clowns partied. Although it's not really the parties I object to. It's the blatant lies.

The Privileges Committee now needs to work out if the former prime minister was recklessly misleading or intentionally misleading. Proving intent, that he lied, is a high bar.

Here is the timeframe: the committee will meet again formally next week:

Once it has received all the evidence it is ever going to, which it hasn't yet, work on writing up the conclusions will begin.

Boris Johnson will then be given two weeks to read and reply to their completed report, and only then will it see the light of day so the rest of us can read it.

It looks like that will happen in late spring or early summer.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65047566

@Kassandra7 I think a lot of people are as angry as you are at all the delays, but the alternatives are sadly worse. If Parliament starts not following its own processes then that means yet another route to holding people to account is utterly discredited, and things are bad enough as they are. Your feelings are very understandable though. I didn't lose anyone in the pandemic, but my DD2 had to go into hospital with appendicitis and I wasn't allowed to be there because she'd just turned 18. No big deal by comparison, but it was really tough for her going into surgery for the first time in her life all by herself.

And if they did come to a decision today, Kassandra7 would not doubt complain about that too.

Even now, after everything, some people still won't admit what a lying charlatan Johnson is.

Meanwhile, my cat is writing a complaint letter to the Daily Hate Mail about their offensive comparison.

@IClaudine You are wrong. I would not complain if they came to a decision today.

You are also wrong if you think I am a Johnson supporter.

I fully understand why processes are in place and should be followed. However I do question how many chances this man should be given and how much time is being spent on this. If he had any decency he would admit that he misled Parliament and stop this waste of time and resources.