Another blow to Boris Johnson’s political career: British MPs barred him from parliament, endorsing a scathing report on Monday night that concluded the former prime minister lied to parliament in the ‘partygate’ affair, compromising his political future.

On his birthday -he turned 59-, the members of the House of Commons adopted the findings of the parliamentary committee Privileges and the sanctions that she recommended to be imposed on the former head of the British government.

With 354 votes in favor and only 7 against, the report was approved by a large majority in the House of Commons, which has a total of 650 members. However, many abstained, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Boris Johnson, who was forced to resign from Downing Street last summer after a series of scandals, no longer has the permission to access parliament premises that former prime ministers usually have.

The 106-page report, released on Thursday, also recommended that he be suspended from parliament for 90 days — which would have led to early elections in his constituency — but the former prime minister had resigned from the parliament. of office shortly after receiving the findings of the investigation.

This vote in the House of Commons does not have much concrete impact. But it is a humiliation for the charismatic and controversial former Conservative prime minister. He said it was a “witch hunt” and a “political assassination”.

In the report, which has reignited divisions within the ruling Conservative Party, the parliamentary committee that conducted the inquiry concludes that he “misled parliament on a matter of the utmost importance to parliament and the world” and did so “repeatedly”.

“Restoring Trust”

According to British newspapers, the former prime minister called on his supporters to abstain rather than vote against the report.

Conservative and opposition MPs spoke for over five hours in the House of Commons about the report, but also about the former prime minister and the “partygate” affair, the parties held in heart of Downing Street in the midst of a lockdown to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The minister responsible for the government’s relations with parliament, Penny Mordant, said at the start of the meeting that she would vote for the report, but gave no guidance on the vote: “All members will have to act on their own view. and the others should leave them alone about it.”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose rivalry with Boris Johnson has now come to the fore more than ever, was absent from the meeting on the grounds that he did not want to “influence” the vote. Labor accused him of “weakness”.

For her part, former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May called on all MPs to support the report’s findings to “help restore confidence in our parliamentary democracy”.

Boris Johnson has “avoided having to answer for his lies (…). There has been no apology or even the slightest admission of responsibility,” Labour’s Angela Eagle complained.

For one of Boris Johnson’s closest allies, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the parliamentary committee “deliberately sought to adopt the most unfavorable interpretation (…) of Mr Johnson’s activities”.

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The former prime minister, soon to become a father for the eighth time, remains popular in his party for delivering Brexit. In 2019 he came to power after a great electoral victory.

However, according to a poll, 69% of Britons and 51% of Conservative voters believe he actually lied to parliament.

Boris Johnson, a former journalist, has already found a new activity: he was hired as a columnist by the conservative tabloid Daily Mail.

On Sunday, a video published by The Mirror newspaper showing members of the Conservative Party dancing at a celebration during the pandemic in defiance of social distancing rules, drew strong criticism.

The latest revelation about partygate comes as the Tory government is under more pressure than ever to tackle inflation and rising interest rates that have sent mortgages skyrocketing.

Lower than ever in the polls against opposition Labour, the Tories, in power for 13 years now, also face four by-elections in the coming months.