Blustering Boris Johnson suffers double Commons humiliation over Partygate and Brexit

Boris Johnson’s hopes of a political comeback appeared dashed on Wednesday after he was accused of presenting “flimsy” excuses for his actions over Partygate and at the same time failed to lead a successful Commons revolt against Rishi Sunak.

During an occasionally bad-tempered televised hearing into the scandal, the former prime minister defended parties inside No 10 during the pandemic – including one attended by his wife and interior designer – as “necessary” for work purposes.

It also emerged Mr Johnson had been explicitly warned against claiming all Covid guidance had been followed – but did so anyway.

Meanwhile his efforts to undermine Mr Sunak’s post-Brexit agreement with the EU ended in abject failure as a vote on the Windsor Framework passed the Commons by a mammoth majority of 486.

Only 22 Tory MPs rebelled against the compromise to end the Northern Ireland Protocol row, in what will be seen as another blow to Mr Johnson’s crumbling authority.

It came as Mr Johnson:

The parliamentary inquiry, conducted by the Commons privileges committee, is investigating whether Mr Johnson deliberately or recklessly misled the Commons with his statements.

If he is found to have done so, he could be suspended as a MP – potentially triggering a by-election in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.

Mr Johnson came under pressure during the hearing as Harriet Harman, the Labour chair of the Tory-majority committee, asked if he could understand why MPs were “dismayed about the flimsy nature” of the assurances he relied upon for his statements to the Commons.

Mr Johnson also defended his decision to seek those assurances from his media advisers after Tory MP Sir Bernard Jenkin told him he would have sought legal advice if there was even “the thinnest scintilla of doubt” over whether rules were followed.

During the session, Mr Johnson defended a birthday party attended by his wife and interior designer inside No 10 as “reasonably necessary for work purposes”.

Leaving drinks for No10 staff were “essential”, he said. “I will believe until the day I die it was my job to thank the staff” working flat out during Covid, he told the commmittee.

But Sir Bernard told him Covid rules did not say parties were allowed if deemed important. “The guidance does not say that,” he said.

Mr Johnson admitted he should have tld the Commons it was “rules” that had been adhered to, rather than that the “guidance” had been followed “at all times” in No 10.

He said he was “misremembering” the line that had been given to the media as the scandal erupted. But in a further blow to Mr Johnson, it also emerged that cabinet secretary Simon Case had not given him any assurances that Covid rules were followed at all times in No 10 during lockdown.

It emerged Mr Johnson was warned by principal private secretary Martin Reynolds against claiming all Covid guidance had been followed, but went ahead and made his claim in the Commons.

Even before Wednesday’s hearing began, it was caught up in a row over allegations Mr Johnson’s supporters are seeking to ‘bully’ members.

Grilled on whether he agreed with his allies that the committee was a “kangaroo court”, Mr Johnson said he did not want to see any “intimidation” but warned darkly: “I will wait to see how you proceed with the evidence that you have.”

Mr Johnson was adamant he would be exonerated, saying it would have been “utterly insane” to have misled parliament and tat it would be “unfair and wrong” for the committee to conclude he had.

Supported in the committee room by arch-loyalist Jacob Rees-Mogg, he also accused Ms Harman of previous comments “prejudicial” to his case.

Ms Harman warned: “Our democracy depends upon trust that what ministers tell MPs in the House of Commons is the truth. And without that trust, our entire parliamentary democracy is undermined.”

After the hearing, Mr Johnson’s former boss Max Hastings told LBC: “I don’t think you can write off Boris Johnson until he is buried at a crossroads with a stake driven through his heart… he is a blight on not only on the Conservative Party, but on the British body politic.”