Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday, March 22, "hand on heart", that he had not lied to parliament, during a decisive hearing for his political future before a parliamentary committee investigating partygate, these parties in Downing Street in the middle of the pandemic.

"I am here to tell you, hand on heart, that I did not lie to parliament," said the 58-year-old former Conservative leader at the beginning of this televised hearing during which he did not let go for more than three hours, in the face of the barrage of questions to which he was subjected.

The stakes are high for the thunderous leader now a simple MP: if the commission of seven MPs, including four Conservatives, concludes that he intentionally lied to parliament about the parties in Downing Street during the lockdown, Boris Johnson risks losing his seat as an MP, jeopardizing the rest of his political career.

>> READ ALSO: Partygate: the dates of the scandal that weakens Boris Johnson

"I have been fully transparent in parliament"

The commission released photos of the rallies in Downing Street, testimonies, extracts of statements from the time of Boris Johnson, putting him face to face with his contradictions. Faced with the evidence put forward, he tried to answer point by point, despite some silences and hesitations.

"At all times, I have been fully transparent in parliament," he said. "I apologize for inadvertently misleading parliament, but to say I did so deliberately is totally false." Boris Johnson has gladly discarded his former advisers.

The parties drunk in Downing Street during Covid, revealed in the press for months, had aroused the anger of the British, for their part strictly confined, who had denounced an intolerable "double standard".

The parliamentary committee, accused by Boris Johnson's supporters of embarking on a witch hunt, must determine whether he deliberately lied to the House of Commons, including when he told MPs in December 2021 that "the rules were respected all the time" in Downing Street during the pandemic.

"Our democracy depends on the certainty that what ministers say to members of parliament is the truth. And without that trust, our entire parliamentary democracy is undermined," said committee chair Harriet Harman.

"I accept that perfect social distancing was not respected (in Downing Street), but that does not mean that what we were doing was incompatible with the rules," said Boris Johnson, who expressed no regrets.

Speaking about a photo taken at a rally for the departure of a member of his team, he defended himself: "I understand that people who look at this photo will think it was a social event. (...) It was not a social event. (...) It wasn't a party."

"If he had respect, he would resign"

Before the hearing, the committee had, in a 110-page document, traced Boris Johnson's official statements and what was happening then in Downing Street.

In May 2020, he asked "the whole country to obey the rules", but a few days later participated in a garden party in Downing Street. On June 10, he "urges everyone to continue to exercise restraint and respect the rules" and participates on the 19th in a birthday party organized for him by his wife Carrie.

And in November 2020, on the occasion of a small party, still in Downing Street, he joked that "it is probably the least respectful gathering of social distancing in the whole of the United Kingdom".

Boris Johnson, throughout the hearing, pleaded good faith. His defense, notably by David Pannick, one of the country's most famous lawyers, cost taxpayers more than 220,000 pounds sterling (249,540 euros), according to British media.

MPs will vote on the penalties he could face, including a suspension that, if it exceeds 10 days, could trigger a by-election in his riding, where his majority is weak.

Boris Johnson's statements have triggered the anger of families of victims of the pandemic, which has killed more than 220,000 people in the United Kingdom, the highest toll in Europe after Russia.

"If he had respect, he would resign his seat as an MP and calmly reflect on the pain and suffering he has inflicted," Bereaved Families for Justice said.

With AFP

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