CNN
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Boris Johnson has resigned as a member of the British Parliament after accusing a House of Commons inquiry of trying to “kick me out”, UK’s PA Media reported on Friday, citing a statement from the former prime minister.
He said he was “bewildered and appalled” after receiving a letter from the committee, which is investigating whether he lied to British lawmakers about parties that broke the lockdown during the pandemic, known as “Partygate.”
Johnson, one of the main architects of Brexit, said the letter made it “clear, to my surprise, that they are determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of Parliament”, according to PA Media.
The former leader said the committee’s Partygate report, which has yet to be released publicly, “is full of inaccuracies and reeks of prejudice, but under its absurd and unfair process I have no formal ability to challenge anything let them say”.
“I have today written to my association in Uxbridge and South Ruislip to say that I am standing down with immediate effect and triggering an immediate by-election,” he said.
Last year, the Metropolitan Police fined Johnson and the then finance minister, Rishi Sunak, who is now prime minister, for attending a Downing Street meeting during the Covid-19 lockdown, making Johnson in the first UK Prime Minister to be found guilty. to break the law.
This March, Johnson admitted to the commission that he misled Parliament about what happened, but claimed he did so unintentionally.
His resignation means Johnson will write the script himself for the rest of his political career. Rather than face a by-election – if the investigation into his conduct during the pandemic warrants – or risk losing his seat at the next general election, he will avoid the indignity of public rejection.
Not being kicked out of parliament but leaving on his own terms will help Johnson and his supporters tell a story: that Johnson did great things in office, was betrayed and then forced out of office by people like Sunak. Had he been able to return, the next general election and the fate of the Conservative party would have been saved, they say.
Johnson’s current approval ratings suggest that might not have been true. But the thing is, we’ll never know now. And that suits Johnson and his acolytes.
In Friday’s lengthy statement, Johnson said he was the victim of a “witch hunt” that was being waged “over Brexit and ultimately to reverse the result of the 2016 referendum”.
Johnson also criticized Sunak’s government, saying that when he left office last year “the government was only a few points behind in the polls” but “that gap has widened massively”.
“Just a few years after winning the largest majority in almost half a century, that majority is clearly at risk. Our party urgently needs to regain its momentum and its belief in what this country can do,” he said.
Johnson’s entire political career was built on his personality. He was the jovial, upbeat conservative that even a liberal city like London could tolerate as mayor.
His TV persona: part clown; pseudo-intellectual part; part lovable, but out of touch-poshboy – won Johnson fans beyond the traditional conservative base. He loved being liked, and his Tory party supporters still believe he is a once-in-a-generation vote winner who would win the next election if he were still in power.
But Johnson was also desperate to be taken seriously, and his time as prime minister offered him many opportunities. Brexit, arguably his greatest victory, required diplomacy and statecraft that eluded his predecessor, Theresa May.
The Covid-19 pandemic put matters of life and death in the hands of national leaders. Johnson was criticized for being slow to act at first. But the rapid roll-out of the vaccine in the UK, made possible by a big gamble by Johnson, boosted his popularity at a critical time in his prime ministership.
Johnson has also played a prominent role in supporting Ukraine. He is so popular that some streets in Kyiv have been renamed after him.
This Johnson, the one who wins the election, takes charge of the biggest political issues of a generation, rises to the world stage, is the one who will want to be remembered. Not the person who broke their own Covid rules and became a political irrelevance.
