Matter referred on 21 April 2022 (conduct of Rt Hon Boris Johnson): Final Report

On 21 April 2022, the House of Commons, without division, referred to the Committee of Privileges a matter concerning the conduct of the Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, that is, whether he had misled the House and whether that conduct amounted to a contempt. This inquiry goes to the very heart of our democracy. Misleading the House is not a technical issue, but a matter of great importance. Our democracy is based on people electing Members of Parliament not just to enable a government to be formed and supported but to scrutinise legislation and hold the Executive to account for its actions. Our democracy depends on MPs being able to trust that what Ministers tell them in the House of Commons is the truth. If Ministers cannot be trusted to tell the truth, the House cannot do its job and the confidence of the public in our democracy is undermined. When a Minister makes an honest mistake and then corrects it, that is democracy working as it should. On 19 July 2022 the Committee resolved how it would conduct its inquiry. On 21 July 2022 the Committee published a report setting out its procedure. The Committee has at all times followed the law and customs of Parliament. The fundamental procedure is governed by the standing orders and precedent of the House. In its procedural resolution the Committee set out a detailed process designed to be both rigorous in its inquiries and fair to Mr Johnson. Neither the Government nor any Member has proposed to the House that the procedure should be altered or set out how this would be done. The answers to the opinions of Mr Johnson’s legal advisers criticising that procedure, to the extent not previously published by this Committee, are set out in Annex 1 to this Final Report.