Boris says 'kangaroo court' should publish 'nonsense' report immediately
Boris Johnson tells Express readers "I'll be back" despite partygate probe report findings.
Boris Johnson last night said the results of a probe into his conduct should be published immediately so the world can “judge their nonsense”.
The Privileges Committee announced it was delaying the release of its findings after the former prime minister sent a late night letter responding to the report.
But Mr Johnson issued a statement insisting there is “no excuse” for holding it back and said it was “absurdly unfair” that the rules do not allow him to criticise the conclusions.
In a warning shot, he said he will make clear his views on the report once it has been published.
Mr Johnson said: “The Privileges Committee should publish their report and let the world judge their nonsense. They have no excuse for delay.
“Their absurdly unfair rules do not even allow any criticism of their findings. I have made my views clear to the committee in writing – and will do so more widely when they finally publish.”
Mr Johnson branded the committee a “kangaroo court” when he announced he was resigning from parliament on Friday night.
The report is expected to say he would have faced suspension from parliament for at least 10 days – enough to trigger a by-election - for misleading parliament.
It was expected to be published today (WED) but Mr Johnson made “further representations” to the committee at 11.57pm on Monday.
A spokesman for the Privileges Committee said: “A letter enclosing further representations from Mr Johnson was received by the Committee at 11:57pm last night (MON). The Committee is dealing with these and will report promptly."
Mr Johnson told Express readers on Tuesday “I’ll be back” and warned the Tories must win an outright victory at the next election to protect Brexit.
The rancour between former Tory leader and his successor descended into a public slanging match as Mr Sunak said his one-time ally had asked him to “do something I wasn’t prepared to do”.
Publicly turning on the man he used to share Downing Street with, Mr Sunak suggested Mr Johnson wanted him to ignore the recommendations of the House of Lords Appointments Commission (Holac).
But Mr Johnson’s camp accused the man who was his Chancellor 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.”
But the Cabinet Office said: “Holac did not support the nominations of the MPs put forward by the former Prime Minister.
“It is unprecedented for a sitting prime minister to invite Holac to reconsider the vetting of individual nominees on a former prime minister’s resignation list. It is, therefore, not a formality.”
