British MPs to vote on Johnson’s ‘partygate’ scandal today

UK: UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in trouble with MPs over the ‘partygate’ scandal, will face a crucial House of Commons vote on Thursday to determine whether he should be referred for further investigation over his ‘misleading’ statements to Parliament in connection with the episode.

The vote was confirmed after House Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, accepted a request by opposition MPs in this regard as Parliament reconvened on Tuesday after the Easter break. Speaking on the issue, opposition leader Keir Starmer of the Labour Party lashed out at the 57-year-old Premier for his conduct. “He’s not just broken the rules, he’s lied to the public, and he’s lied to Parliament about it,” Starmer said on Johnson.

On Thursday, therefore, Members of Parliament will vote to determine whether the Conservative leader should be referred to the Parliament’s committee on standards.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday offered a “wholehearted” apology for attending an illegal party during the COVID-19 lockdown but said he didn’t knowingly break rules or mislead Parliament. Johnson told lawmakers in the House of Commons “it did not occur to me” that the gathering was a party.

Last week, Johnson was fined 50 pounds ($66) for attending his own surprise birthday party in 10 Downing Street in June last year. Police are still investigating several other parties in government buildings that Johnson is alleged to have attended.

“Let me also say not by way of mitigation or excuse, but purely, purely because it explains my previous words in this house, that it did not occur to me then or subsequently, the day gathering in the Cabinet Room, just before the vital meeting on COVID strategy, could amount to a breach of the rules,” Bloomberg quoted Johnson as saying in Parliament. “That was my mistake. And I apologise for it, unreservedly.”

– THE HINDUSTAN TIMES

by Daily News Sri Lanka

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