Global Courant
Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s departure from parliament over parties breaking COVID lockdown has sparked feverish speculation about his and the current government’s future.
Johnson announced on Friday that he was stepping down as a member of parliament, claiming he had been forced out by his political opponents.
The 58-year-old populist politician is being investigated by a cross-party committee over whether he deliberately lied to parliament about parties during his tenure.
As proof earlier this year, he insisted he hadn’t.
But as the committee prepares to make its findings public, he said they had contacted him “to make it clear … they are determined to use the procedure against me to oust me from parliament”.
The Privileges Committee, which has a majority of MPs from its own Conservative Party, has the power to impose sanctions for misleading parliament, including suspension.
Usually a suspension of more than 10 working days leads to a by-election in the politician’s constituency.
By standing down, Johnson avoids the consequences of a humiliating battle to remain an MP in his seat in north west London’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip, where he has a slim majority of just over 7,000.
‘kangaroo court’
He denounced the committee, chaired by veteran Labor MP Harriet Harman, as a “kangaroo court”.
“It is very sad to leave parliament – at least for now – but above all I am stunned and appalled that I could be forced to do so in an anti-democratic way… with such blatant bias,” he said.
He claimed that the commission’s report, which has not been published, was “riddled with inaccuracies and smacks of bias”, adding that he was “formally unable to challenge anything they said”.
Their “goal from the start was to find me guilty, regardless of the facts,” he said.
In response to the firing, the Privileges Committee said Johnson “through his statement called into question the integrity of the House.”
Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from Westminster, said Johnson’s move threw a grenade right into the heart of Rishi Sunak’s government, “sending shards of political shrapnel everywhere”.
“There is currently speculation about how much damage this will do to the Conservative Party,” he said.
“The government of (Prime Minister) Rishi Sunak is very quiet about it at the moment. No official statement or any minister on record.
The government of Rishi Sunak has been silent on the development (File: Andy Rain/EPA)
‘Tidy is tidy’
Johnson loyalist Nadine Dorries also dropped out as an MP, meaning current Prime Minister Sunak, who partly blames Johnson for his downfall, faces two by-elections as his party languishes in the polls.
Johnson’s ability to generate strong feelings of admiration or hatred was reflected in the reactions to his shock announcement.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said the public – grappling with a cost-of-living crisis – had had enough of the “never-ending Tory soap opera”, while her smaller Liberal Democrat counterpart Daisy Cooper said it was ” cleared state”. ”.
Patrick Diamond, a former policy adviser to the Labor Party, said Johnson’s statement indicated he may lay the groundwork for a future comeback, especially if the Conservatives are heavily defeated in the next election.
“But we shouldn’t be surprised to see Boris Johnson trying to re-establish himself as a leadership contender,” Diamond, a professor of public policy at Queen Mary University in London, told Al Jazeera.
“The Privileges Committee report contains some damning findings, which may indeed deter Boris Johnson from returning to British politics.
Diamond added: “But it’s also, I think, important to remember that Boris Johnson remains relatively popular within the Conservative Party and to some extent among Conservative voters.”
Johnson led the Conservatives to an overwhelming 80-seat majority in the December 2019 general election on a pledge to “get Brexit done”.
That enabled him to push his break with the European Union through parliament and unblock years of political paralysis.
But he was undone by his handling of the COVID pandemic, “Partygate” and a series of other scandals that led to a ministerial revolt last July.
He stepped down as prime minister and left office last September, although rumors persisted that he wanted another shot at the top job.
Sunak, one of Johnson’s top teams who quit, has been trying to keep the ship stable since becoming prime minister in October, following his former boss’s turbulent tenure and Liz Truss’s short-lived premiership.
Johnson’s resignation is likely to be seen as his revenge against Sunak, whose Conservatives are far behind in the polls with a general election approaching next year.
“When I left office last year, the government was only a handful of points behind in the polls. That gap has now widened enormously,” Johnson said in his letter, lashing out at Sunak.
Johnson became an MP in 2001 until 2008, when he stepped down to serve two four-year terms as Mayor of London. In 2015 he became a member of parliament again and later became foreign minister under Theresa May’s government.
