By Kate DevlinBoris Johnson has sensationally announced he is quitting as an MP claiming he is the victim of a Partygate and Brexit witch-hunt.
The former Prime Minister’s decision came as he faced a damning verdict into his conduct during the Covid pandemic by a Parliamentary inquiry.
Amid growing speculation that it could have led to the humiliation of being kicked out as the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, he said he is to stand down.
Boris claimed his political enemies had sought revenge on him ever since he led the campaign to take the UK out of the EU in 2016.
It came hours after his most loyal former cabinet ally Nadine Dorries also announced she is leaving the Commons after Mr Johnson’s bid to give her a peerage was effectively blocked.
But Mr Johnson did not rule out a political comeback, saying he was quitting the Commons “at least for now”.
In an extraordinary statement, he accusing the Commons investigation into whether he misled Parliament over partygate of attempting to “drive me out” and compared it to a “kangaroo court”.
And he accused the Labour MP chairing the Commons privileges committee, which is carrying out the inquiry, of bias against him.
“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, by a committee chaired and managed, by Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias,” he said.
It comes after Mr Johnson had been accused of cronyism after handing out peerages, knighthoods and other gongs to his closest allies, including Jacob Rees-Mogg and Priti Patel, and aides linked to the partygate scandal.
The former prime minister’s long-awaited resignation honours list, released by the Government on Friday afternoon, was branded a “catalogue of cronies” by critics.
Former London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey and Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen, were among seven nominations for peerages.
Those put forward for a knighthood included staunch loyalist Jacob Rees-Mogg, former housing secretary Simon Clarke, and MPs Conor Burns and Michael Fabricant.
Former home secretary Priti Patel was nominated for a dame hood, along with former ministers Andrea Jenkyns and Amanda Milling.
Responding to Boris Johnson’s honours list, which includes former aides who worked for him during the partygate scandal, Liberal Democrat Scottish affairs spokesperson Christine Jardine MP said: “Boris Johnson has been allowed to hand out gongs to his partygate pals, and Rishi Sunak has just waved it through. The sorry saga of his long goodbye has dragged on for far too long.
“Rishi Sunak must stick by his pledge to govern with integrity, but giving the green light to Boris’ blusters doesn’t inspire confidence.”
More follows on this breaking news story….