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The Committee of Privileges today is taking further steps in its inquiry into the conduct of Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP. Mr Johnson has accepted the Committee’s invitation to give oral evidence in public in the week beginning 20 March.

• Read the report
• Find all publications related to this inquiry, including oral and written evidence

The exact date and time of the evidence session will be announced shortly. The session arises out of the referral from the House of Commons of the matter to the Committee. The session, which will be held in public, will see the Committee’s Members, comprised of 4 Conservative, 2 Labour and one SNP Member, question Mr Johnson on a range of matters arising from evidence submitted to the inquiry, as set out in a report published today.

This report is not the Committee’s final findings on the inquiry. The report is a summary of matters that will be raised with Mr Johnson during his oral evidence session. The Committee has provided this summary to Mr Johnson at his request. It has produced it as a report to the House, at who’s request the inquiry is being undertaken, and pursuant to the Committee’s commitment to transparency.

Further to the invitation to give oral evidence, the Committee has invited Mr Johnson to provide written evidence to the inquiry setting out his response, should he wish, in advance of the oral evidence session. Any such response will be published. The Committee has disclosed all evidence submitted to the inquiry so far to Mr Johnson under secure conditions.

The oral evidence session forms a part of the Committee’s inquiry into the conduct of Boris Johnson MP, following the instruction of the House of Commons to the Committee to conduct an inquiry into the matter. In its report the Committee sets out briefly the course of its inquiry: in July 2022 the Committee requested written evidence from the Government; this was received in August in heavily redacted form; in November the Government finally provided unredacted material which the Committee analysed. In January the Committee wrote to 23 individuals seeking specific information to be supplied with a statement of truth (equivalent to giving evidence under oath). Having assessed the responses the Committee has identified issues to be raised with Mr Johnson which are set out in the report.

The oral evidence session will be broadcast live on Parliament TV. The Committee will announce further details about that session in due course.