Boris Johnson said he didn’t intentionally mislead MPs over Partygate – only 19 responses you need

Boris Johnson (sigh) has denied ‘recklessly misleading’ parliament over all those Downing Street knees-ups he attended during lockdown.

The former PM admitted misleading the House of Commons but said his comments were ‘in good faith’ and he would ‘never have dreamed’ of leading MPs up the proverbial garden path. The very thought!

His written statement on Tuesday comes a day before he will appear before the Commons partygate inquiry.

If any one snapshot of his evidence sums up Johnson’s defence, then it might be this.

Boris Johnson : I accept the house was misled .. but the comments were made in good faith on the basis of what I honestly knew and believed at the time .. pic.twitter.com/OFNPOyN464

— emily m (@maitlis) March 21, 2023

And this bit tells you quite a lot of what you need to know as well.

So Boris Johnson calls it a ‘party’ in private correspondence not because it WAS a party but because that’s how the media referred to it. AAAH. Of course. pic.twitter.com/BsGUdot8EY

— Jon Sopel (@jonsopel) March 21, 2023

And these 19 responses might not say it all, but they surely say a very large part of it.

1.

johnson: *makes rules*

johnson every day at 5pm for a year: "these are the rules that i made"

johnson: *breaks rules*

johnson today: "if only someone had told me the rules"

— Michael Spicer (@MrMichaelSpicer) March 21, 2023

2.

"I didn’t know that the woman I was fucking wasn’t actually my wife" is the Boris Johnson defence.

There, I just saved you from reading the 52 pages of eye piss that is Johnson’s "defence dossier".

— Supertanskiii (@supertanskiii) March 21, 2023

3.

When folk constantly tell fibs, it’s really difficult to know when they’re telling the truth. I imagine it’s even a challenge for themselves.

— Gary Lineker (@GaryLineker) March 21, 2023

4.

Boris Johnsons’s defence in full: “absolutely everyone knew I was lying, apart from me.”

— Tom Peck (@tompeck) March 21, 2023

5.

I just think the whole argument that Johnson didn't understand the rules would be a lot easier to make if he wasn't the bloke who told us the rules every night on TV.

— Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) March 21, 2023

6.

This is fast becoming a fascinating study into how liars lie about their lying.

— Dr Mike Galsworthy (@mikegalsworthy) March 21, 2023

7.

Your Boris Johnson bullshit bingo card pic.twitter.com/dvIPDN4kwg

— Russ Jones (@RussInCheshire) March 21, 2023

8.

I wrote the law and the law won 🎵

— Al Murray – DKMS.ORG.UK 🇺🇦 (@almurray) March 21, 2023

9.

Boris Johnson didn't think the rules applied to him
Boris Johnson has never thought the rules apply to him
Boris Johnson thinks he's above the rules
The rules are for the little people
You and me and all of us
That's how he thinks
And all of them do
Actually#WorldPoetryDay

— Otto English (@Otto_English) March 21, 2023

10.

"Hello!" lied Boris Johnson.

— Danny Wallace (@dannywallace) March 21, 2023