London: The UK’s former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced his resignation as a member of Parliament, accusing a parliamentary probe into the “Partygate” scandal of driving him out.
Johnson, 58, said he was stepping down on Friday with immediate effect, “triggering an immediate by-election” in his marginal seat, which heaped political pressure on his successor Rishi Sunak.
“It is very sad to be leaving parliament – at least for now,” Johnson said in a statement. “I am being forced out by a tiny handful of people, with no evidence to back up their assertions, and without approval even of Conservative party members let alone the wider electorate.”
The decision by the leader of the Conservative Party has triggered a by- election in his marginal seat.
Notably, if the privileges committee of Parliament were to determine that Johnson intentionally or recklessly misled the parliament, they could have proposed a suspension period of more than 10 days for him, which could have led to a potential election for his parliamentary seat.
Boris Johnson received a letter from the “privileges committee making it clear – much to my amazement – that they are determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of parliament”.
“Most members of the Committee – especially the chair – had already expressed deeply prejudicial remarks about my guilt before they had even seen the evidence,” he said.
“In retrospect it was naive and trusting of me to think that these proceedings could be remotely useful or fair.”
Johnson had been fighting for his political future with a parliamentary inquiry investigating whether he misled the House of Commons when he said all COVID-19 rules were followed.
Boris Johnson’s tenure as Prime Minister of United Kingdom was cut short in 2022, partly due to the anger within his own party and throughout the country regarding his involvement in lockdown parties held in his offices and residence at Downing Street, which violated COVID-19 regulations.
