The opposition in Britain believes that Prime Minister Boris Johnson has misled MPs in his statements to them about “Partygate” during the coronation. Now there will be an investigation.
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While the Prime Minister himself is on a state visit to India, members of the British House of Commons discussed on Thursday whether there is a need for a committee to be commissioned to assess whether he knowingly and intentionally lied to Parliament about the so-called “Partygate”.
– Some have tried to create the impression that the allegations that Boris Johnson misled Parliament are not particularly serious. Every time such an argument is made, it leads to the status of this house (Underhuset journ.anm.) Decreasing, said opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer.
He said he feared this would be the parliament failing in its responsibility to stand up to a dishonest prime minister and to democracy.
– If we fail in our duty, the people will not forgive or forget that we did it, because this will be Parliament that failed. The failure to stand up for honesty, integrity and to tell the truth in politics, the Labor leader continued.
Comment: Boris fears being investigated by his own
– A liar
Labor, the largest opposition party, believes the need is absolutely present. Therefore, they have put forward a concrete proposal on this. The proposal has received support from other opposition parties, and on Thursday at 17.36, Parliament decided to investigate whether Boris Johnson lied about partying during the corona shutdown.
The proposal was approved without a formal vote.
“The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is a liar,” said Ian Blackford, leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party.
He pointed out that Johnson came to the House of Commons several times and claimed that there had been no parties in the government premises. Statements he has not corrected later. The police have given a number of fines, including to the Prime Minister himselffor breach of corona rules.
“Parliament was misled,” Blackford said.
Several conservatives, Boris Johnson’s own party, also support the proposal.
– The Prime Minister is no longer suitable to govern, says party colleague William Wragg.
–Withdrew counter-proposal
The government, with the support of the majority of their own party, had for its part proposed that a vote on the proposal should not take place now, but rather postponed until the police have completed their investigation of the many parties held at government premises during a period where such social gatherings were banned due to coronary restrictions.
They also believed that a vote should wait until the internal government inquiry, conducted by bureaucrat Sue Gray, of all the parties is published in its entirety. This is expected to happen only after the police investigation is over.
Johnson is ridiculed after party fines: – What a joke!
During his visit to India, Johnson said that he is happy to be followed in the seams, but believes the most honest thing would be to wait to vote on an investigation if he has lied to the parliament to the police and Sue Gray are both done.
“MPs should have full facts before making a decision,” Johnson said of a possible investigation, according to The Guardian.
At the same time, he added that it is up to the members of Parliament to decide for themselves what they want.
And later on Thursday, the government withdrew its proposal to postpone the vote. Several British media write that it happens because they have realized that they would lose anyway, and that there would be a majority for an investigation of whether he has lied.
But it is also pointed out that Labour’s proposal for an investigation states that it will only take place after the police have finished.
– Denies lies
In any case, Johnson denies – again – that he misled Parliament about what he knew about the various parties and whether he knew he was doing something that was not legal.
– Of course not, he answered the question of whether he had either deliberately, or without doing it on purpose, misled Parliament.
This is in contrast to something he said last week, which according to The Guardian indicated that without knowing it he had said something that was incorrect and that he planned to have this corrected.
In the debate on Thursday, several in the House of Commons pointed out that they believe the parliament has been misled by the prime minister, but that it is unclear whether Johnson did it knowingly and intentionally, or for lack of better knowledge.
– Therefore, it is important with an investigation to clarify this, several said.
To Sky News Johnson says he has nothing to hide.
Boris Johnson has said, among other things, that no parties were arranged and that all rules were followed. The police have stated that this is not the case. Also the preliminary Sue Gray report strikes it hard.
Already have the police issued fines to over 50 persons, that is including to the Prime Minister himselfwho attended some of the parties.
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