Why has Boris Johnson resigned as an MP? The former PM’s decision, explained

Boris Johnson angrily stood down as a Conservative MP on Friday evening after an investigation into the Partygate scandal found he had misled Parliament.

In a lengthy statement, the former prime minister accused the investigation by the Privileges Committee of MPs of being a “kangaroo court” and of trying to “drive him out”.

Earlier in the day, Rishi Sunak greenlit a resignation honours list for him, including more than 40 peerages and rewards for some of Mr Johnson’s closest allies around the time of the Partygate scandal.

His move comes hot on the heels of Nadine Dorries’ resignation, which has triggered a by-election in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency, a top target for the Liberal Democrats and Labour. Mr Johnson’s own departure will catalyse a by-election in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.

Why did he step back as MP?

Mr Johnson was sent the findings of the Privileges Committee’s investigation earlier this week, which told the former prime minister that it had found he had deliberately misled Parliament and would be recommending a sanction that would be enough to trigger a recall petition and potentially a by-election.

However, Mr Johnson anticipated this and made the decision to leave, blaming the “proceedings”, which he said were being used to “drive me out of Parliament”.

“I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically, by a committee chaired and managed, by Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias,” he said in a statement.

But Mr Johnson’s career has been peppered with scandals and whiplash comebacks. After leading the Conservatives to landslide victory in 2019, he was ousted by his party three years later following accusations of sleaze.

The “proceedings” against him refer to the conclusions over whether Mr Johnson misled Parliament about a host of gatherings, including wine and cheese nights and birthday parties, in government buildings in 2020 and 2021 that were in breach of pandemic lockdown rules.

Related Article

The Metropolitan Police Service issued 126 fines given out over events on eight dates in total as part of its investigation into the gatherings, including one to Mr Johnson.

The committee is expected to publish its report in the next few weeks.

A supportive Tory minister told i that his decision to jump before he was forced to face a parliamentary vote on any Privileges Committee sanction, was a “demonstration of his extraordinary leadership, defending democracy and his party, ensuring no vote is required which would cause a split”.

Mr Johnson said of the Privileges Committee: “They have still not produced a shred of evidence that I knowingly or recklessly misled the Commons.

“They know perfectly well that when I spoke in the Commons I was saying what I believed sincerely to be true and what I had been briefed to say, like any other minister.”

In a staunch defence of his actions during the height of the partygate scandal, Mr Johnson insisted that he “did not lie”, adding: “I believe that in their hearts the Committee knows it.

“But they have wilfully chosen to ignore the truth because from the outset their purpose has not been to discover the truth, or genuinely to understand what was in my mind when I spoke in the Commons.”

Boris Johnson’s downfall: A timeline

15 May 2020: Cheese and wine night
Boris Johnson was photographed sitting with his wife and staff in the No 10 garden. Covid restrictions limited people to their homes unless it was to exercise or deemed essential, and people were only permitted to meet one other person from a different household

20 May 2020: Bring Your Own Booze party
A leaked email revealed Downing Street staff were invited to “bring your own booze” to an event in the Downing Street garden. Mr Johnson admitted he was there for 25 minutes but said he thought it was a “work event” to thank staff

19 June 2020: Boris Johnson’s birthday
No 10 admitted staff “gathered briefly” in the Cabinet Room for a surprise get-together for Mr Johnson, organised by his wife

13 November 2020: ‘Abba party’
Carrie Johnson reportedly hosted parties in the flat over No 11, which involved drinking and dancing to music by Abba. Earlier, people had gathered in the No 10 press office for a leaving party, with Mr Johnson briefly attending

17 December 2020: Cabinet Office ‘Christmas party’
London was in Tier 3 restrictions, with a maximum of six people permitted to meet outdoors

18 December 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
Staff made speeches and exchanged Secret Santa gifts. Mr Johnson is not thought to have attended.

16 April 2021: Parties before Prince Philip’s funeral
The night before the Queen sat alone – because of Covid restrictions – preparing for the funeral of Prince Philip, two leaving dos were reportedly held in No 10. Downing Street subsequently apologised to Buckingham Palace

7 May 2021: Chequers gathering
Boris and Carrie Johnson reportedly hosted Dixie Maloney, a corporate events organiser, at Chequers. Some restrictions were still in place

November 2021: The story breaks
The media first reported the parties, which were denied by Mr Johnson and ministers.

Prime Minister and Chancellor fined by police
April 2022: Mr Johnson, his wife and Rishi Sunak fined for breaching Covid regulations

9 June 2023: Boris Johnson resigns as MP

Was he hounded out?

The SNP’s deputy Westminster leader, Mhairi Black, said Mr Johnson “jumped before he was pushed”.

“No one in Scotland will be sorry to see the back of him but he has also underlined the weakness of Rishi Sunak, who has no authority over the bitterly divided Tory Party,” said the MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South.

In his statement, Mr Johnson criticised former senior civil servant Sue Gray, who led the investigation into the Partygate scandal, and who is due to start working for the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer.

Related Article

Mr Johnson said he does not believe “that it is any coincidence” that she will soon be working for the Labour leader, adding he does not believe “that it is any coincidence that her supposedly impartial chief counsel, Daniel Stilitz KC, turned out to be a strong Labour supporter who repeatedly tweeted personal attacks on me and the Government”.

Will he be back?

However, Mr Johnson has hinted British politics may not have seen the last of him. “I am very sad to be leaving parliament – at least for now,” he said, prompting speculation he could stand in Nadine Dorries’ safe seat, in a bid to stay in Westminster and keep as keeping alive his hopes of a political comeback.

But in a sign of the divisions his decision will cause, one veteran anti-Johnson Tory told i: “His statement is awful. A complete rewriting of history. MPs now need to decide whether they are going to let him take the Conservative Party down with him or use this opportunity to draw a line under the events of the last eighteen months which have not been our finest hour.”