Boris Johnson reignites war with Dominic Cummings as he admits to misleading Commons over Partygate
BORIS Johnson insisted he did not mean to tell the Commons porkies about rule-breaking parties — ahead of today’s grilling from MPs.
The ex-PM also reignited his war with Dominic Cummings, suggesting his former aide is the only one accusing him of lying.
He branded accusations from MPs that he must have known he was breaking lockdown rules as “absurd”.
But Mr Johnson admitted he did accidentally get it wrong when he said all rules were followed.
This afternoon he will finally face Parliament’s Privileges Committee.
He is fighting against being suspended from the House and even facing a by-election in his Uxbridge seat.
But he said last night: “I look forward very much to the committee session.
“I believe the evidence conclusively shows that I did not knowingly or recklessly mislead Parliament.
“The committee has produced not a shred of evidence to show that I have.”
Ahead of the showdown he handed committee members a 52-page rebuttal to their suggestion he lied about No 10 gatherings.
Mr Cummings says he directly warned Mr Johnson a big gathering in the garden would be against the rules.
But the former PM wrote: “There is no evidence at all that supports the allegations.
“The only exception is the assertions of the discredited Dominic Cummings, which are not supported by any documentation.”
Mr Cummings wrote on his blog yesterday: “I’ll watch and post thoughts on how he tries to lie his way to safety.”
Mr Johnson insists he never realised a multitude of boozy gatherings in No 10 breached lockdown rules — and says he would never have invited a photographer to snap them if he thought they were against the law.
In his legal defence he argued there is a complete lack of written and oral evidence from those who attended the parties that they understood rules were being broken.
And the ex-PM said no aides or staff warned him of breaches either.
He also slammed the idea that he knew he was breaking rules during a gathering in the Cabinet Room on his birthday.
Police fined him and current PM Rishi Sunak for attending the event, where a cake and snacks were present.
But Mr Johnson said: “It never occurred to me then or at any time prior to the police issuing the fixed penalty notice, that the event was not in compliance with the rules or the guidance.
“I was in the Cabinet Room for a work meeting and was joined by a small gathering of people, all of whom lived or were working in the building.
“We had a sandwich lunch together and they wished me Happy Birthday. I was not told in advance that this would happen. No cake was eaten, and no one even sang Happy Birthday.”