being what they used to be. in terms of the hearing itself, boris johnson s argument can be broadly summarised as, i told parliament the truth because it was what i believed at the time. and secondly, that those photographs we have all seen, are members of his staff around tables with bottles of prosecco and things like that, that that was essential for work because they had to be in the office anyway. i have got to say, though, listening to the reaction yesterday of some of the members of that committee, i am not sure they were buying a lot of it. harriet harman, the labour chair of the committee, suggested at one point, just looking at my notes, that the evidence was flimsy from mr johnson. bernhard jenkin, a veteran conservative said that mr conservative mp, said that mr johnson had not taken proper advice because he had just spoken to a couple of communication officials are not asked for example the most senior civil servant in the country, the cabinet secretary, whether all the ca
that contravened the guidance. absolutely not. we were making a huge effort to follow the guidance. mrjohnson also said that he would believe until the day he died that it had been his job to thank staff, and gatherings to do so had been essential. would you have advised anyone else in the country, if they d asked you at one of the press conferences i at that time, to have a large social gathering in their garden? - it was not a large social gathering. it was a gathering intended. and i really must insist on this point. people who say that we were partying in lockdown simply do not know what they are talking about. people who say that that event was a purely social gathering are quite wrong. those around mrjohnson believe the hearing went well. well, i thought he gave a very robust defence of himself, actually. i thought he addressed the points very well. i think we also need to remember this is not a reinvestigation of partygate. really, the committee is talking about parliamentary
a hearing about truth mrjohnson adamant he d told it. i m here to say to you, hand on heart, that i did not lie to the house. for around three hours, mps on the privileges committee questioned mrjohnson about why he had told the commons that covid guidance had not been broken in downing street. they showed him photographs like this one, of a leaving do in november 2020, which they said suggested he himself had seen guidance being broken. the guidance does not say you can have a thank you party and as many people in the room as you like, if you think it s very important to thank people. the guidance doesn t say that. i accept that not everybody is perfectly socially distanced in that picture, but that did not mean to me, when i stood up in the house of commons and said that the guidance was followed completely, i was not thinking of that event and thinking that somehow,
to the house. for around three hours, mps on the privileges committee questioned mrjohnson about why he had told the commons that covid guidance had not been broken in downing street. they showed him photographs like this one, of a leaving do in november 2020, which they said suggested he himself had seen guidance being broken. the guidance does not say you can have a thank you party and as many people in the room as you like, it s very important to thank people. the guidance doesn t say that. i accept that not everybody is perfectly socially distanced in that picture, but that did not mean to me, when i stood up in the house of commons and said that the guidance was followed completely, i was not thinking of that event and thinking that somehow, that contravened the guidance. absolutely not. we were making a huge effort to follow the guidance. mrjohnson also said that he would believe until the day he died that it had been his job to thank staff, and gatherings to do so had been essen