BORIS Johnson has resigned as an MP – triggering a by-election in his Uxbridge constituency.
The ex-PM stepped down following a probe by a committee into alleged lockdown rule breaching parties in Downing Street.
Boris Johnson has resigned as an MP – triggering a by-election in his Uxbridge constituency
But why has he resigned and what did Mr Johnson say?
The Privileges Committee launched an investigation into Mr Johnson following the Partygate scandal.
The committee’s report found he had misled Parliament over the saga.
It then recommended he be suspended for more than ten days.
Mr Johnson was handed a draft of the report before announcing he was stepping down, which triggered an immediate by-election.
In a 1,034-word resignation statement, Mr Johnson branded the Partygate probe a “kangaroo court” and a “Brexit witch hunt“.
And he went on to claim the committee was “determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of parliament”.
He added: “Most members of the Committee – especially the chair – had already expressed deeply prejudicial remarks about my guilt before they had even seen the evidence.”
The chair of the Privileges Committee is Labour’s Harriet Harman.
Boris also attacked the Tories direction of travel since his No10 defenestration last summer, saying: “We must not be afraid to be a properly Conservative government.”
He warned: “We need to deliver on the 2019 manifesto, which was endorsed by 14million people. We should remember that more than 17million voted for Brexit.”
But in a hint of a comeback one-day, he said he was departing front-line politics “at least for now.”
Sir Michael Fabricant, who received a knighthood in Boris Johnson’s long-awaited resignation honours list, said the former prime minister had been the subject of “disgraceful treatment” after he resigned as an MP.
He tweeted: “Disgraceful treatment of a political leader who has made world history.”
