But, in that case, will Johnson really do it? It would not be the first time that the conservative leader would bypass the conventions and traditions that support British democracy, flexible but also without large supporting walls (see the absence of a real constitution). In any case, it will first be necessary to see if Johnson really misrepresented in Parliament, and voluntarily, about the Partygate affair. Certainly, the prime minister has continually changed his version in recent weeks, while he explained the facts to MEPs and especially to British citizens. His defense began with “there was no party on Downing Street” in the early days of Partygate, then moved on to “the rules were never broken”, “I didn’t know about it”, and finally “I have attended a party, but it was a surprise, and only for ten minutes. “
Given the track record of his previous statements, Johnson’s only hope at this point will be to place the blame on his co-workers. That, in this reading, they could have “misguided” him, leading him to declare falsehood in Parliament, but unintentionally. In that case, he would be acquitted. But there are many unknowns. First of all, the possibility of new further fines imposed by Scotland Yard on the prime minister for breaking the anti-Covid rules that he himself had imposed on the British. So far Johnson has only received a fine, for the surprise party that his wife Carrie had let him find in Downing Street on July 19, 2020. But new fines, which could contradict his previous statements, would obviously significantly undermine his position.
But there is another big problem for Johnson: the rebellion in his Conservative party. For more and more Tory deputies, in fact, the position of the prime minister is no longer tenable. So much so that today MPs like Steve Baker and others have harshly attacked the prime minister, demanding his resignation. All applauded by the Labor opposition in the classroom led by Sir Keir Stamer, author of the amendment that triggered today’s investigation that frames Johnson. A measure voted en masse also by the Tories, thus canceling the monstrous majority of 80 seats of the prime minister in Parliament.
Not only. Another humiliation for Johnson, who is currently on a visit to India, was his attempt to stifle the internal Tory uprising in the morning by trying to get his own to vote on another amendment tabled by the government, which said that it would take time to approve the investigation or not. This is to wait for the end of the investigations by the Scotland Yard police and, in parallel, the internal government one of the official Sue Gray, and to have the complete picture of the situation to judge. Instead, just hours after the announcement, Johnson had to backfire and let the Tories free to vote on the Starmer Amendment. Because the prime minister understood that the revolt would be so great that it would cause an even worse disaster.
The only positive note for Johnson is that Scotland Yard announced today that there will be no more fines before May 5, the date of the crucial local elections in the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland. In short, the prime minister will have at least two weeks of respite. But the political situation for Boris Johnson is getting worse and worse.