The former prime minister claimed that he was advised by senior officials that both Covid rules and guidance had been ‘complied with at all times’ in Downing Street during the pandemic.
However, the privileges committee that has investigated Johnson, has concluded that officials did not advise him that social-distancing guidelines had been followed, according to The Times.
One of his most senior officials in fact warned him against making such a claim on the basis it was ‘unrealistic’.
The committee of seven MPs also found that Johnson was misleading during a public hearing with the committee at which he claimed that leaving drinks he attended without social distancing were in line with Covid guidance.
He has accused the committee of mounting a ‘witch-hunt’ and behaving like a ‘kangaroo court’.
The committee’s report will state that Johnson would have been sanctioned with a suspension of more than ten days, enough to trigger a by-election, it has been reported.
It is also expected to state that criticism of the committee should be considered contempt of parliament after Johnson and his allies repeatedly castigated members over the investigation.
They were offered increased security after being inundated with messages from Johnson’s supporters.
The former prime minister has already rejected the findings of the committee, which were sent to him last week.
In his resignation statement on Friday he accused the committee of ‘egregious bias’ and said it was carrying out a ‘political hit-job’.
He also accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ‘talking rubbish’ over his resignation honours list.
Sunak suggested that Johnson had asked him to bend the rules by overruling the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac) and giving four Tory MPs peerages.
‘Boris Johnson asked me to do something that I wasn’t prepared to do, because I didn’t think it was right,’ Sunak said.
Johnson responded: ‘Rishi Sunak is talking rubbish. To honour these peerages it was not necessary to overrule Holac but simply to ask them to renew their vetting, which was a mere formality.’
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