Boris Johnson Ordered to Hand Documents to Parliamentary Committee Probing Partygate Scandal

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been ordered to hand over a cache of documents to MPs investigating whether he lied to Parliament over the so-called partygate scandal.

Johnson, who is set to step down as prime minister in early September, still faces an inquiry by the Privileges Committee into whether he deliberately misled Parliament with his repeated assurances that CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus rules were followed in Number 10 Downing Street.

These assurances have been proven to be false after the Metropolitan Police issued over 100 fines to Downing Street staff members, including Johnson and his wife Carrie, for attending gatherings in violation of COVID-19 regulations during the lockdowns.

Harriet Harman, the senior Labour MP chairing the investigation, wrote to Johnson and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case on July 14 demanding details relevant to its inquiry to be handed over by the deadline of Aug. 15.

Diaries and Entry Logs

The requested documents include Johnson’s diaries for eight days during the lockdown period when parties occurred, email invites, resignation emails and WhatsApp messages, and Number 10 entry logs.

The request for Johnson’s diary entries relate to dates between May 2020 and January 2021 when numerous rule-breaking gatherings were held in Downing Street and Whitehall.

The request for Number 10 entry logs on June 19 and Nov. 13, 2020, centre on Johnson’s birthday gathering, over which he was fined, and an event in his Downing Street flat.

All photos by the prime minister’s official photographer Andrew Parsons on the dates in question were also requested.

Electronic invites for the events were demanded, as were briefing notes for appearances in the House of Commons where Johnson may have misled the House and records of civil servants being disciplined.

So too were details of any relevant documents that may have been deleted.

The committee said the list of documents requested may be expanded later “if required.”

Oral evidence sessions are expected to begin after the return of the Parliament in September after the summer recess.

Downing Street could not guarantee it would provide the committee with all the requested evidence.

A Number 10 spokesman said: “You will appreciate that we have recently received those letters and requests which we’ll now take a proper look at.

“As we’ve said before, we will assist the committee in their inquiries but once we’ve had the time to look at the letters and requests we’ll set out our response to the committee.”

PA Media contributed to this report.