and you ll remember nearly a year ago, borisjohnson was fined for breaking the law when he attended this gathering on his birthday. so this isn t about whether he broke the rules. this is about whether boris johnson misled parliament over those gatherings. that s being investigated by a committee of mps who are focusing on statements he made to parliament when he was prime minister. statements like this this was december, 2020. whatever happened, the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times. the committee of mps already says evidence suggests borisjohnson may have misled parliament. now borisjohnson submitted this document his written evidence for the investigation 52 pages of his legal defence. in it, he says, i accept that the house of commons was misled by my statements that the rules and guidance had been followed completely at no.10. he adds. when the statements were made, they were made in good faith and on the basis of what i honest
at the time. finally. there is no evidence at all that supports an allegation that i intentionally or recklessly misled the house . many of his allies agree. our political editor chris mason spoke to one earlier. does this get him off the hook? well, it shows categorically that not a single shred of evidence that boris knowingly misled parliament. what s more, where it s shown inadvertently there had been some inaccuracies, he corrected the record. and all this comes before a big day tomorrow where that committee of mps will question borisjohnson in a televised session. let s talk tojenny kleeman she s a journalist and broadcaster first of all about the crux of the matter, what this is all about is whether the prime minister miss led mps in parliament not about whether he broke covid rules. it is mps in parliament not about whether he broke covid rules. he broke covid rules. it is about whether he he broke covid rules. it is about whether he misled he broke covid rules. it i
borisjohnson third of the parliamentary party of boris johnson voted third of the parliamentary party of borisjohnson voted against covid passesin borisjohnson voted against covid passes in england. the breadth of that rebellion astonishing, people who were on different sides of the brexit argument, those former cabinet ministers are spending their life on the backbenches, some of the new intake including the newest conservative mp libby french who won the bexley by election. people putting down a marker about where they may stand on future restrictions but some concerned they are not getting enough reliable information or evidence from the covenant. then there is the question of boris johnson s covenant. then there is the question of borisjohnson s authority, not just with the backbenches but his authority should further restrictions be necessary. it is subsequently, as for as i am aware, and we should get keir starmer to question borisjohnson s authority and to point out that some of
support and the measure is happening why significant beyond just for those who follow the conservative party very closely? why is it significant that people watching one of that this number of conservative mps will vote against the pet minister? , ., ., minister? let me give you two secific minister? let me give you two specific reasons. minister? let me give you two specific reasons. one - minister? let me give you two specific reasons. one is - minister? let me give you two specific reasons. one is it - minister? let me give you two i specific reasons. one is it called into question borisjohnson s authority and his party. we talked a lot in the last couple of weeks about some of the damage that s been done to borisjohnson his reputation by the various controversy as we had seen of her downing street parties. in the past, borisjohnson was able to persuade a number of his mps to do things that they may be did not want to do. the size of this rebellion suggests he s losing some of tha
fact that he has to position himself as a fiscal fact that he has to position himself as a fiscal conservative and hopefully in the future when the time hopefully in the future when the time is hopefully in the future when the time is right, it may be before the next time is right, it may be before the next election, it may be afterwards, he positions next election, it may be afterwards, he positions himself as a low tax conservative in principle.- he positions himself as a low tax conservative in principle. thank you for cominu conservative in principle. thank you for coming and conservative in principle. thank you for coming and sharing conservative in principle. thank you for coming and sharing your - conservative in principle. thank you i for coming and sharing your thoughts on the chancellor s speech. i suppose the question borisjohnson is going to be asked over the next few days is whether he is rolling out more tax rises as well, because when he was on the andrew ma