British parliamentarians barred Boris Johnson from Parliament, validating an overwhelming report on Monday evening, the conclusion of which is that the former prime minister lied to Parliament about the Partygate affair, compromising his political future. On the very day that Boris Johnson turned 59, the elected members of the House of Commons supported the conclusions of the parliamentary committee regarding his privileges and the sanctions recommended against the former head of government. With 354 votes in favour and only seven against, the report was approved by the House of Commons, which has a total of 650 elected members. Many abstained, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Boris Johnson, who was forced to resign from Downing Street last summer after a series of scandals, has now found himself without the pass into Parliament that former prime ministers usually have. The 106-page report published on Thursday also recommended his suspension from Parliament for 90 days, which would have led to early elections in his constituency, but the former leader submitted his parliamentary mandate shortly after obtaining the document’s conclusions.

The concrete impact of this consultation of the deputies is small, but it represents a humiliation for the charismatic and controversial conservative politician. Boris Johnson called the report a “witch hunt” and, after its release, described it as a “political assassination”. In the report, the commission concluded that Boris Johnson “misled the House on a matter of the greatest importance to Parliament and the public” on “several occasions”. According to British media, the former prime minister asked his supporters to abstain rather than oppose the report. Conservative and opposition MPs took turns for more than five hours in the House of Commons to express their opinion not only on the report but also on the former prime minister and Partygate, the outdoor parties that took place in full lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, whose rivalry with Boris Johnson is as visible as ever, did not attend the debate, saying he did not want to “influence” the vote, but this stance drew accusations of “weakness” from Labour. Former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May called on all MPs to vote in favour of the report’s conclusions to “help restore confidence in our parliamentary democracy”. The former leader, soon to be a father for the eighth time, remains popular within his party for implementing Brexit. In 2019, he came to power after a great electoral victory. But, according to a poll, 69% of British and 51% of conservative voters believe that he lied to Parliament. Boris Johnson, a former journalist, has already found a new job. He was hired as a columnist by the conservative tabloid Daily Mail. On Sunday, a new video published by The Mirror newspaper, in which members of the Conservative Party dance at a party during the pandemic in defiance of social distancing rules, sparked strong public disapproval. And this at a time when the conservative government is more than ever under pressure in the fight against inflation and the increase in interest rates that cause the skyrocketing growth of mortgage loans. At an all-time low in opinion polls against the Labour opposition, the Conservative Party, in power for 13 years, will face four by-elections in the coming months.

By Sara Colin