Johnson may have misled Parliament over parties, say MPs

MPs have said Boris Johnson may have misled Parliament multiple times over Partygate - but the former PM insists he will be vindicated by their report.

The privileges committee said it had seen evidence that "strongly suggests" Covid rule breaches would have been "obvious" to Mr Johnson.

But Mr Johnson said he never "knowingly or recklessly" misled MPs about lockdown gatherings in Downing Street.

And he said he was confident he would be cleared by the committee.

He is due to give evidence to the committee later this month.

In an initial report published on Friday, the MPs highlighted ways in which he may have misled Parliament.

These include a statement on 8 December 2021 no rules or guidance had been broken in Number 10.

Mr Johnson told BBC News he did not "know or suspect" that events broke the rules when he spoke about them in the Commons.

He added that "after 10 months of effort" the committee had not produced evidence "to suggest otherwise".

"I didn't mislead the House, and I don't believe I'm guilty of a contempt. I think that this process happily will vindicate me," he said.

The committee has published extracts from a series of WhatsApp messages it has received as part of its inquiry.

In one from 28 April 2021, seven months before press reports about parties first appeared, an unnamed No 10 official noted that another official was "worried about leaks of PM having a piss up and to be fair I don't think it's unwarranted".

In another, from 25 January 2022, Mr Johnson's then director of communications, Jack Doyle, told a No 10 official he hadn't "heard any explanation" of how a birthday party for the former PM in the Cabinet Room in June 2020 was within the rules.

In a separate WhatsApp exchange the same day, an official messaged Mr Doyle, saying: "I'm trying to do some Q&A [briefing for officials dealing with the media queries], it's not going well".

Mr Doyle replied: "I'm struggling to come up with a way this one is in the rules in my head", adding: "PM was eating his lunch of course".

The official responded: "I meant for the police bit but yeah as ridiculous as the cake thing is it is difficult".

The official then suggested they could argue it was "reasonably necessary for work purposes".

Mr Doyle replied: "Not sure that one works does it. Also blows another great gaping hole in the PM's doesn't it":[]}