Boris Johnson makes last-minute representations to Privileges Committee

A spokesman for the committee said it was ‘dealing with’ submissions received from the former prime minister at 11.57pm on Monday.

Boris Johnson has made last-minute representations to the Privileges Committee (Aaron Chown/PA) (PA Archive)

Boris Johnson has made last-minute representations to the Privileges Committee, before it publishes a report expected to find that he deliberately misled Parliament.

The committee said it was “dealing with” submissions received from the former prime minister at 11.57pm on Monday.

It had been expected to release its report this week into whether Mr Johnson lied to MPs over the Downing Street partygate scandal, after he quit Parliament on Friday having received a draft of its findings.

In a 1,000-word exit statement, he accused the committee, chaired by Harriet Harman but with a Conservative majority, of “bias” and likened it to a “kangaroo court”.

A letter enclosing further representations from Mr Johnson was received by the committee at 11.57pm last night

Privileges Committee spokesman

The publication had already been pushed back towards the end of the week, reportedly due to printing problems in Parliament, before Mr Johnson’s 11th-hour representations.

A committee spokesman said on Tuesday: “A letter enclosing further representations from Mr Johnson was received by the committee at 11.57pm last night.

“The committee is dealing with these and will report promptly.”

The Privileges Committee has rejected his defence that senior officials advised him Covid rules and guidance had been followed in No 10, according to the Times.

A senior aide in fact warned him against claiming to the Commons that social distancing guidelines were observed, the paper reported.

Following his shock resignation, Mr Johnson launched into a public spat with one-time ally Rishi Sunak over his resignation honours list.

The Prime Minister suggested his former boss wanted him to ignore the recommendations of the House of Lords Appointments Commission.

But Mr Johnson’s camp accused him of having “secretly blocked” the peerages of former culture secretary Nadine Dorries and other allies in his resignation list.

The former prime minister released a statement saying: “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.”

One Downing Street source said the Cabinet Office had made it clear to Mr Johnson that there is no re-vetting process, while the Prime Minister’s spokesman said it is “entirely untrue to say that anyone from No 10 attempted to remove or change” the list.

Despite the expected findings of the Privileges Committee this week, Mr Johnson insisted “I’ll be back”, quoting Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator.

In the Daily Express, Mr Johnson said “We must fully deliver on Brexit and on the 2019 manifesto. We must smash Labour at the next election.

“Nothing less than absolute victory and total Brexit will do – and as the great Arnold Schwarzenegger said, I’ll be back.”

The message echoed Mr Johnson’s sign-off during his final appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions last year, when he told MPs “Hasta la vista, baby” – the catchphrase of Schwarzenegger’s cyborg character in the 1991 movie Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

That reference similarly left the door open for a possible comeback, but the former Uxbridge and South Ruislip MP remained on the backbenches until quitting the Commons on Friday.

Meanwhile, Sir Keir Starmer warned that Tory infighting between the two erstwhile allies is damaging the UK’s reputation internationally and putting off investors.

The Labour leader told business chiefs at London Tech Week: “There’s a deeper price because there’s a reputation hit to the UK.

“I think there’s an economic hit as well, many investors said to me, we’re not investing in the UK right now because we don’t see the conditions of certainty and stability we need in order to invest.”