A Bad Day for Boris
Whatever your thoughts are about Boris Johnson, it is fair to say that he does not shy away from the spotlight.
Since the end of his premiership, Johnson has generally avoided the front pages but that all changed yesterday for two reasons. Firstly, he voted against the Windsor Framework that alters the Northern Ireland Protocol. Secondly, he appeared in front of the Privileges Committee where he gave evidence on the partygate scandal.
Neither of those events ended the way that Johnson would have liked. He was one of only 29 MPs who voted against the Framework and during the hearing the former prime minister frequently lost his cool.
The problem with the hearing is that it wasn’t especially helpful but perhaps that should not have come as a surprise. The main case of the committee is pretty simple: here is what the guidance was at the time and here is a set of photos and documentary evidence of you breaching the guidance. There are also questions about intentionally or recklessly misleading Parliament but again this just about flagrant breaches of the guidance alongside Johnson’s own statements before the House of Commons that contradict the gathered evidence.
In criminal law terms, the actus reus and the mens rea are both there and it would be surprising if the committee came to any other conclusion despite the expert legal advice Johnson is receiving (at the taxpayer’s expense).
However this is not a criminal court, it is a Parliamentary committee where Johnson’s fate will be decided by his peers. This introduces a political element that we would not see outside of the Houses of Parliament and that brings with it some theatre too.