Boris Johnson sensationally quit politics on Friday night after receiving a copy of a devastating independent report that found he had misled Parliament.
In British politics, tradition dictates that there’s no greater crime than lying to one of the world’s oldest parliaments.
Johnson’s career began with him getting fired by The Times newspaper for lying. His political career may have just been extinguished in the same way.
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A cross-party inquiry has ruled that he misled Parliament over a series of parties that were held at No. 10 Downing Street while the rest of the country was locked down under coronavirus restrictions.
Chastened by the findings, the former prime minister would have faced a vote by his fellow lawmakers on whether he should be suspended for more than 10 days, as recommended by the panel.
The number of days is crucial, as anything over a 10-day suspension opens up the opportunity for his political district to “recall” Johnson from Parliament to face a public vote on his future.
Johnson has decided to quit in anger rather than face the consequences of his actions, and an embarrassing defeat by his own voters.
To any other British leader, this would be the end of their political career, but—just hours after Donald Trump became the first former president to face a federal indictment—normal rules may not apply.
Johnson hinted in a fiery statement that he could still return. “It is very sad to be leaving Parliament—at least for now—but above all I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically,” he said.
One of Johnson’s few remaining loyalists—who coincidentally was knighted by Johnson just hours before he quit—claimed his former boss was hounded out. “Disgraceful treatment of a political leader who has made world history,” said Sir Michael Fabricant.
After months of briefing and counter-briefing between allies of Johnson and people loyal to current Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Boris tried to drag one of his successors down with him.
Johnson denied that he had deliberately lied to Parliament when he told lawmakers that there had been no parties at No. 10 during lockdown pointedly naming Sunak as one of his colleagues who also believed the rules had not been breached. Sunak was fined by the police for breaking the lockdown rules by attending a small birthday gathering given for Johnson.
“When I left office last year the government was only a handful of points behind in the polls. That gap has now massively widened,” he said, highlighting the dismal performance of Liz Truss and then Sunak who followed him into Downing Street.
“We must not be afraid to be a properly Conservative government,” he said, rallying the grassroots supporters who will always cherish him as the man who delivered Brexit. “Why have we so passively abandoned the prospect of a Free Trade Deal with the U.S.?”
Sunak met President Joe Biden in Washington this week and returned home with no suggestion that a trade deal with the U.S. would soon be struck to replace the one Britain forfeited when it quit the European Union.
Johnson has now staged his own exit. Whereas Trump decided to fight every charge until the end, Boris refuses to be judged by his colleagues or the public. He’s quit on his own terms. For now.
