عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Report Finds Boris Johnson Deliberately Misled UK Parliament

FILE - Boris Johnson leaves his house in London, on March 22, 2023. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament about the lockdown-flouting parties that undermined his credibility and contributed to his downfall, a committee of lawmakers said Thursday, June 15, 2023 after a year-long investigation. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)
FILE - Boris Johnson leaves his house in London, on March 22, 2023. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament about the lockdown-flouting parties that undermined his credibility and contributed to his downfall, a committee of lawmakers said Thursday, June 15, 2023 after a year-long investigation. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)
TT
TT

Report Finds Boris Johnson Deliberately Misled UK Parliament

FILE - Boris Johnson leaves his house in London, on March 22, 2023. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament about the lockdown-flouting parties that undermined his credibility and contributed to his downfall, a committee of lawmakers said Thursday, June 15, 2023 after a year-long investigation. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)
FILE - Boris Johnson leaves his house in London, on March 22, 2023. Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament about the lockdown-flouting parties that undermined his credibility and contributed to his downfall, a committee of lawmakers said Thursday, June 15, 2023 after a year-long investigation. (AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali, File)

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament about the lockdown-flouting parties that undermined his credibility and contributed to his downfall, a committee of lawmakers said Thursday after a year-long investigation.

A scathing report from the House of Commons Privileges Committee found that Johnson’s actions and his response to the committee were such a flagrant violation of the rules that they warranted a 90-day suspension from Parliament, The Associated Press reported.

While a condemning indictment of the former prime minister’s conduct, the recommendation is largely symbolic because Johnson angrily quit as a lawmaker Friday after the committee informed him of its conclusions.

“We have concluded above that in deliberately misleading the House, Mr Johnson committed a serious contempt,″ the committee’s report said.

“The contempt was all the more serious because it was committed by the Prime Minister, the most senior member of the government. There is no precedent for a Prime Minister having been found to have deliberately misled the House.″

The committee also said Johnson should not be granted a pass to Parliament’s grounds.

Johnson, 58, fought back in a statement tinged by fury. He described the committee as a “kangaroo court” that conducted a “witch hunt” to drive him out of Parliament. A majority of the panel’s seven members come from Johnson’s Conservative Party.

“The committee now says that I deliberately misled the House, and at the moment I spoke I was consciously concealing from the House my knowledge of illicit events,” Johnson said.

“This is rubbish. It is a lie. In order to reach this deranged conclusion, the Committee is obliged to say a series of things that are patently absurd, or contradicted by the facts.”

The report is just the latest episode in the “partygate” scandal that has distracted lawmakers since local news organizations revealed that members of Johnson’s staff held a series of parties in 2020 and 2021 when such gatherings were prohibited by pandemic restrictions. The full House of Commons will now debate the committee’s report and decide whether it concurs with the panel’s findings and recommended sanctions.

Johnson angrily quit as a lawmaker on Friday after the committee informed him in advance that he would be sanctioned.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

Russia Launches New Year Drone Strike on Kyiv, 2 Killed

A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service shows Ukrainian rescuers working at the site of a drone attack on a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 01 January 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE HANDOUT
A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service shows Ukrainian rescuers working at the site of a drone attack on a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 01 January 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE HANDOUT
TT
TT

Russia Launches New Year Drone Strike on Kyiv, 2 Killed

A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service shows Ukrainian rescuers working at the site of a drone attack on a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 01 January 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE HANDOUT
A handout photo made available by the State Emergency Service shows Ukrainian rescuers working at the site of a drone attack on a residential building in Kyiv, Ukraine, 01 January 2025, amid the ongoing Russian invasion. EPA/STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE HANDOUT

Russia launched a drone strike on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Wednesday, killing two people, wounding six others and damaging buildings in two districts, Reuters quoted city officials as saying.
Explosions boomed across the morning sky as Ukraine's air force warned of drones approaching the capital and Mayor Vitali Klitschko said air defenses were repelling an enemy attack.
Two floors of a residential building were partially destroyed in the strike, according to the State Emergency Service said. Two people were killed, it said.
Photos posted by the State Emergency Service showed firefighters dousing a gutted corner of a building and rescuers helping elderly victims.
The National Bank of Ukraine said in a statement that one of its buildings had been damaged by debris from a downed drone. Debris also damaged a non-residential building in a different neighborhood, Klitschko added.
"Even on New Year's Eve, Russia was only concerned about how to hurt Ukraine," President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on social media in response to the strike.
Kyiv's military said it had shot down 63 out of 111 drones launched by Russia overnight across various regions of Ukraine. Another 46 had been downed by electronic jamming, it added.
Russia has carried out regular airstrikes on Ukrainian towns and cities far behind the front line of its nearly three-year-old invasion. 
Zelenskiy said late on Tuesday that no one would give peace to his country as a gift, but he believed the United States would stand alongside Kyiv.

Zelenskiy, in a slick 21-minute New Year video greeting to his compatriots, also said only a strong Ukraine could secure peace and earn worldwide respect.

"We know that peace will not be given to us as a gift, but we will do everything to stop Russia and end the war, something each of us desires," Zelenskiy said against a backdrop of the blue-and-yellow national flag, battlefield scenes and pictures of children.
He recalled conversations with outgoing US President Joe Biden, President-elect Donald Trump and "everyone who supports us in the United States.”

"I have no doubt that the new American president wants and will be able to bring peace and end (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's aggression," Zelenskiy said.
"He understands that the former is impossible without the latter. Because this is not a street brawl where the two sides need to be pacified. This is a full-scale aggression by a deranged state against a civilized one. And I believe that, together with the United States, we are capable of the strength to force Russia into a just peace."
Russia, Zelenskiy said, was not to be trusted either in battle or in talks.
"If today Russia shakes your hand, it doesn't mean that tomorrow the same hand will not start killing you," he said. "Russians fear those who are free. What they don't understand. They fear freedom."