Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will step down as Member of Parliament with immediate effect for at least 10 days, suspended by the House of Commons, causing him to vacate his seat as Conservative MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, and triggering a by-elections.
Johnson had been fighting for his political future with a parliamentary inquiry into whether he misled the House of Commons when he said all the rules against covid-19 were followed.
“It is very sad to leave Parliament, at least for now,” Johnson said in a statement. “But most of all I am shocked and appalled that I have been undemocratically ousted. I am being ousted by a small handful of people, with no evidence to back up their claims, and without the approval of even members of the Conservative Party, let alone the general electorate.”
Parliament’s privileges committee could have recommended that Johnson be suspended for more than 10 days if they found he recklessly or deliberately misled the chamber, potentially triggering an election for his seat.
The former prime minister said he had received a letter from the “privilege committee which made it clear, to my astonishment, that they are determined to use the proceedings against me to expel me from Parliament.”
Johnson, whose premiership was interrupted in part by anger in his own party and in Britain over lockdown parties – the so-called “partygate” case – that broke anti-covid rules at his Downing Street office and residence , accused the committee of acting like the “very definition of a kangaroo court”.
“Most of the committee members, especially the chair, had already made deeply damaging comments about my guilt even before they had seen the evidence,” he said. “In retrospect, it was naive and trusting of me to think that these proceedings could be remotely useful or just”.
