Former PM’s defence dossier released ahead of parliamentary committee hearing on Wednesday
Boris Johnson has said he would “never have dreamed” of intentionally misleading theover Downing Street gatherings as he published a defence dossier he hopes will exonerate him from claims he lied to parliament.
However, in his own written evidence, he suggested there was no “smoking gun” that indicated he intentionally misled MPs, writing: “There is not a single document that indicates that I received any warning or advice that any event broke or may have broken the rules of guidance.”The only exception, he said, was from the assertions of his “discredited” former chief adviser Dominic Cummings, which were not supported by any documentation.
Johnson responded that this suggested he had “deliberately” lied to parliament, adding: ”If it was ‘obvious’ to me that the rules and guidance were not being followed, it would have been equally obvious to dozens of others who also attended the gatherings I did.” He said most of them did not consider these events to have broken the rules either.
The committee identified at least four occasions where Johnson may have misled MPs, including when he told MPs in December 2021 that no rules or guidance were broken, even though subsequent investigationsYet much of his defence appears to rely on claims from his senior team that the rules and guidance had not been breached. “On the basis of assurances that I received from those with direct knowledge, I honestly believed that these events were lawful work gatherings,” he wrote.
The publication of the 52-page dossier came a day after it was handed to the committee of MPs that will determine if Johnson misled the house.
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