Boris Johnson has today published his long-awaited ‘partygate’ defence, ahead of his appearance before the Privileges Committee tomorrow afternoon. James Heale in the Spectator has more.
In the 52-page submission, Johnson accepts that he did mislead the House of Commons when he said that “the rules and guidance had been followed at all times” during Covid. But he insists he made his statements “in good faith” and that he “would never have dreamed” of doing so intentionally. The committee claims that his submission “contains no new documentary evidence”; sources close to Johnson dispute this.
Johnson’s defence broadly relies on three familiar arguments. The first is the absence of any smoking gun which proves that he definitely knew that the rules had been broken. He submits that: “There is not a single document that indicates that I received any warning or advice that any event may have broken rules or guidance.” He adds that the only evidence that he intentionally misled the Commons is from the “discredited Dominic Cummings”, and that Cummings’s assertions are not “supported by any documentation”.
Secondly, he notes the context in which these gatherings were held. Johnson says that the “vast majority of individuals” who have given evidence “have not indicated that they considered their attendance in breach of the law”. He suggests that party attendees would not have “allowed these events to be immortalised by the official photographer” had they believed them to be illegal at the time.
And thirdly, Johnson argues that the committee has gone beyond the scope of its own inquiry by accusing him of breaching guidance. He says that the committee’s scope is and should be limited to the regulations. The committee is also accused of creating “for the first time the entirely novel concept of ‘recklessly’ misleading parliament”, to which Johnson objects.
Partygate was obviously hypocritical, but equally obviously the investigation into it is politically motivated. Besides which, the sceptics’ case has always been that the chief crime was in banning such activities in the first place; the hypocrisy was a minor sin in comparison to the major sin of forcing the country to cease living human lives.
Worth reading in full.
To join in with the discussion please make a donation to The Daily Sceptic.
Profanity and abuse will be removed and may lead to a permanent ban.
Going way back to 2007 we had Martin Durkins first film “The Great Global Warming Swindle” highlighting the diabolical disgrace of poor third world Africans with no electricity because wealthy so called environmentalists in the western world keen to control wealth and resources using climate as the excuse cannot bear these people living on a dollar a day having the same standard of living as them.
This whole Eco Socialist charade has very little to do with the climate which is simply “science” hijacked for political purposes. Even the IPCC admit the worst case scenarios from their phony models are very unlikely to ever occur, so the silly activists no longer have the excuse of a climate emergency on their side.
These brainwashed dreamers should go for a year without electricity and see how they get on. They don’t know what hardship is and that is the problem. Once they have sat in the street all day truly believing they are saving the planet, off they go back to their cosy house and turn up the gas central heating, put on the kettle and watch their ridiculous protest on SKY NEWS, all courtesy of FOSSIL FUELS.
Not ‘go without electricity for a year’, I’d like to see them go without oil – and its derivatives, for just one month.
It is both Andy. I just chose to highlight the effect of not having electricity———-I don’t think people realise the effect on people’s standard of living, health, and life expectancy not having electricity has. No refrigeration, no lighting after it gets dark, no appliances, no kettle or proper cooking facilities, no ability to manufacture things, all resulting in a death from a short life of back breaking labour, and from preventable disease. ——Fossil fuels and their ability to provide the essentials of modern civilisation like transport, heating, lighting, and industry that does the work of thousands of people quickly etc are what keeps us out of the Stoneage, which is where the phony planet savers would send us all if they got their way. Climate Change policies are far worse for us, and especially for poor people coerced into not having access to cheap reliable energy than the alleged climate change itself which is based mostly on un-validated models which do not actually match what the real world is doing. There is no evidence that CO2 is causing or will cause dangerous changes to climate and that is the excuse given for keeping the developing world un-developed.
Beautifully put.
Agreed
Yes, a good number would die due to lack of petrochemical drugs!
Let’s all remember the correct spelling of “Sci£nce”
I like that one, but the first letter should be $.
There’s surely evil at work in all this. Possibly the worst genocide ever planned. Sick stuff.
I had the same thought independently. You beat me to it though. The imf policy towards Africa of banning investment in fossil fuels and making lending conditional on promoting lbgt is a form of genocide.
There are 8 billion of us apparently.
Useless eaters that is.
And it is all “for our children and grandchildren”. ——Anyone who says that really needs a lesson in economics, science, morality and politics. ——-The most recent person to utter this nonsense was Isabel Webster on GB News this morning. No surprise there as this woman was schooled in climate propaganda at SKY
Did anyone else see the video where the Millionairess Poison Dwarf rehearsed being “awwested” with The Police?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXuHAg6W38k
The world bank ban on funding coal fired power in Africa bought in by Obama was actual genocide. Worse than even Hitler’s gas chambers in terms of lives lost no doubt.
Excellent peice of common sense
He’s a fantastic young man.
Brilliant article and puts so many things in perspective and should be compulsory reading at every University and School in the West.
According to various globalists keeping large numbers in poverty is desirable and even necessary because starving people work harder.
A fine writer in the wake of the late Fiona Kobusingye, who was equally eloquent in voicing her dismay at western politics.
He only needs to realize that CO2 and climate alarmism is nothing but alarmism, but maybe he is already aware it is nonsense and is just taking one step at a time.
And he should please not criticize tourism in Africa which is naturally a huge boost to their economies. And I imagine that the vast majority of tourists are aware of Africa’s plight and are happy to leave at least a small part of their wealth in the country.
“Africans emit just 2% of the total world emissions”
Good point but by addressing emissions as a problem, you are playing into their hands.
“The energy sector supports every other industry.”
That’s the whole point of the CO2 climate change hoax. To de-industrialise, and de-populate. The stupidity of the whole thing is that with plentiful cheap energy (fossil or nuclear) we could feed ourselves using much less land and protect the environment.
The only way leaving African oil in the ground makes sense is if you do not want Africa to industrialise or develop, and prefer people being hungry and poor. The climate change scam is a massive transfer of wealth from the world’s poorest to the richest.
Excellent article which needs to be seen by more people, not just the converted on here.
absolutely correct – well said, Jusper
Insofar our political overlords are concerned, we won’t be enjoying the benefits of fossil fuels for much longer, either. Hence, addressing this to the people in Europe seems misplaced. At best, they’re obeying to the mask mandate (figuratively spoken) of the day because they’ve been brainwashed into believing that it is really the best possible choice by endless repetition of propaganda on all official and semi-official (BBC etc) news channels. At worst, they know what game is being played here but are entirely powerless to do something about it because the would-be world government has made its decisions and won’t be swayed by the plight of the people.
Well you should know all about that in Germany who have about 40,000 wind turbines and after Fukushima got rid of all the Nuclear energy. The good news is they had to open up some coal plants to keep the lights on. I imagine the same thing will happen when the UK’s silly wind fantasy prices us all out of using electricity and cannot provide base load.
—–All it will require is for one big football match or dancing show on a Saturday night to be unavailable because the wind isn’t blowing, and all hell will break loose.
I would like substack to have a “buy me a coffee” button. It is a nuisance signing in then remembering to cancel just to reward one good article. That is the business model hook, I suppose. The tenners I don’t pay must be fewer than those I forget to cancel.
Makes many valid points, but I disagree with the opinion that mankind should control instead of Nature.
I’ve tried several times to buy Jusper some ‘fruit’ but the payment system refuses to accept my email address, telling me it’s invalid
Brilliant article and beautifully written, unlike the dross we have to put with on a daily basis from the Telegraph. Even the Spectator is bad.
I am copying and pasting this article for future reference, if nobody minds. I attended a seminar a year or two back and one of the presenters said exactly this: that nothing will bring Africans out of poverty more than increasing their food production via fertiliser, yet the arrogant EU says we must reduce our inputs (fair enough, we use too much) but to impose our will on other countries is ignorance and best and arrogance at worst.
It’ll also be available on the DS website.
HEAR HEAR!!!!!!
Excellent article. I wish all the ECO nuts could visit Africa by mule and see for themselves. Most wouldn’t last a day of travel.
This article is going to my Labour MP
We haven’t got any MP’S yet!