Boris Johnson partygate inquiry: Expect sparks to fly as former prime minister faces four-hour grilling by MPs
Boris Johnson’s defence has finally landed – a 52-page dossier outlining why he believes he “acted in good faith” when he told the House of Commons “no rules were broken” over parties in lockdown.
He accepts he misled parliament, but not that it was deliberate.
The crux of Mr Johnson’s argument is very simple: no one warned him at the time. He says he “relied on assurances” from his advisers and was “focused on difficult decisions concerning the pandemic”.
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Key parts of Boris Johnson’s partygate evidence
Mr Johnson names, and effectively blames, a number of officials including his former director of communications Jack Doyle.
He describes asking Mr Doyle whether a “team meeting” with cheese and secret Santa breached rules, with Mr Johnson saying: “He told me it was within the rules.”
The former PM’s allies have been quick to rally, with longtime backer James Duddridge saying: “People do mislead the house by accident, you misspeak.”
But the question of whether Mr Johnson corrected the record at the earliest possible opportunity is crucial.
As former parliamentary lawyer Professor Alexander Horne puts it: “The biggest danger for Boris Johnson is that he is found to have recklessly misled the house and then knowingly decided not to issue a correction in the usual fashion.”
Professor Horne said Mr Johnson’s argument that he could not say anything while police investigations were ongoing appears “fairly weak”.
Boris Johnson pictured toasting staff in Downing Street during lockdown
There are two threads to Mr Johnson’s defence: That he was badly advised and that the process itself has not been fair.
He talks about the “partisan tone” of the privileges committee’s interim report, and one ally tells me the inquiry is a “Labour stitch-up”.
Labour’s Harriet Harman chairs the privileges committee, after Chris Bryant recused himself over past comments about Mr Johnson, but the majority of MPs on the committee are Conservative.
The privileges committee’s interim report said the evidence strongly suggested breaches of coronavirus rules in No 10 would have been “obvious” to Mr Johnson.
Read more:
What happens if the committee finds Johnson misled MPs?
How Johnson defended each of his partygate statements to parliament
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How did Johnson ‘mislead parliament’?
Today it said Mr Johnson’s defence contains “no new documentary evidence”.
If their verdict is that Mr Johnson did recklessly mislead parliament he could face a punishment ranging from an apology in the House of Commons, to a suspension serious enough to ultimately trigger a by-election.
On Wednesday, the committee will hear four hours of evidence from Mr Johnson. Sparks are likely to fly.
Renewed focus on the scandal that helped bring down the former PM may sound like something that would bode well for Rishi Sunak, but the inquiry seems to be galvanising Mr Johnson’s most ardent backers.
Mr Johnson in the limelight, taking attention away from government business, is not helpful for Mr Sunak.
Watch coverage of Boris Johnson giving evidence to the privileges committee on partygate live on Sky News from 2pm.
Countries in South and Southeast Asia have been coping with a weeks-long heatwave which has seen record temperatures sweep parts of the region.
Pupils in the Philippines, India and Bangladesh have been told to stay at home and learn remotely due to a severe health risk.
Schools in Cambodia have also cut back on their hours.
Cambodia faces its hottest temperature in 170 years, according to meteorologists – as high as 43C (109F).
Bangkok in Thailand has reached 40C (104 F), but the heat index is said to have topped 50 C (122 F) due to the heat being trapped among the mass of buildings.
The United Nations Children’s Fund warned in April that the heat could put the lives of millions of children at risk and asked people who care for them to take extra precautions.
A spokesperson for UNICEF said around 243 million children were exposed to hotter and longer heatwaves.
A woman drinks from a public tap in India. Pic: AP
They said the increased heat was “putting them at risk of a multitude of heat-related illnesses, and even death”.
Thirty people in Thailand have died from heatstroke in the past month, according to data from the country’s health ministry.
People are being advised to avoid outdoor activities and to stay hydrated.
Several towns in Myanmar were included on lists of the hottest spots globally last month, with temperatures reaching 48.2C (118F) in at least one case.
People stock up on water in India. Pic: AP
Parts of eastern India also experienced their hottest April on record.
Kerala, on India’s west coast, this week instructed all schools and colleges to close until Monday, while influencers in Bangladesh have encouraging people to plant trees in response to the record heat.
Benjamin Horton, director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore, said there were three factors for heatwaves: a naturally-occurring climate phenomenon known as El Nino, an increase in global temperatures, and human-induced climate change.
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Brazil is currently experiencing another climate phenomenon – La Nina – with 39 dead and 68 missing in floods across the country.
More than 24,000 people have been forced to leave their homes due to the flooding.
Scientists believe the naturally-occurring phenomenon has intensified due to the impact of climate change.
China has been branded “a bully” and an international lawbreaker after its ships blasted Philippine vessels with water cannon in the South China Sea.
Sky News was on board the BRP Bagacay when a Chinese vessel fired water at it, causing significant damage.
Philippine coastguard spokesman Jay Tarriela told Sky News that this week’s confrontation was the first time China had used “such aggression” against their ships.
“The metal parts and the railing were bent. The canopy was also destroyed. So this came as a surprise for us that China never hesitated to use brute force,” he said.
“It completely justifies us calling The People’s Republic of China a bully country.”
Jay Tarriela, a spokesman for the Philippine Coastguard, told Sky News that China is a ‘bully’
The Philippine coastguard was on a resupply mission to the Scarborough Shoal to deliver food and fuel to Philippine fishermen when they were struck.
The submerged reef lies in disputed waters. China claims sovereignty over the reef but it is much closer to the Philippines and lies within its legally recognised exclusive economic zone.
The vessel Sky News was on board was the closest the coastguard had ever been to the shoal – just 600 metres away from it.
Asked if the mission to the shoal was a provocative move by the Philippine coastguard, Commodore Tarriela denied they were “poking the bear” but rather “driving the bear out of our own territory”.
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Sky witnesses China-Philippine confrontation
The Philippines has been stepping up its patrols in the area under the instruction of President Bongbong Marcos, and reasserting its claim to the shoal in recent months.
It has raised the spectre of open conflict. While neither side currently wants that, there is now a greater threat of open conflict.
Asked what the end game was for the Philippines, Commodore Tarriela said their priority was to “tell the world” about China’s aggression.
China’s coastguard fired water at Philippine coastguard vessel BRP Bagacay while Sky was onboard
He said their secondary goal was to ensure “like-minded states” also made China “fall in line and respect international law”.
“Otherwise, it’s everybody’s loss,” he added.
Read more:
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China building airstrip on disputed island, satellite images suggest
Philippine government policy is not to resist using water cannon against Chinese vessels – and Commodore Tarriela insisted that policy remains in place after the confrontation.
The government also remains intensely determined to protect the waters it believes it has every right to operate in.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
“We’re not going to yield and we’re not going to surrender a square inch of our territory,” Commodore Tarriela insisted.
Beijing has called the action its own coastguard took as “necessary”.
Speaking at the Chinese foreign ministry’s daily news conference, spokesperson Lin Jian described the coastguard’s conduct as “professional, proper, and lawful”.
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