Privileges Committee confirm date for Boris Johnson MP oral evidence session

15 Mar 2023 11:36 AM

The Committee of Privileges yesterday confirmed the date for hearing oral evidence from Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP.

Mr Johnson has accepted the Committee’s invitation to give oral evidence in public, and will be questioned by the Committee from 14:00 on Wednesday 22 March.

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 its current inquiry, as set out in a report published 03 March. The Committee has provided this summary to Mr Johnson at his request. It has produced it as a report to the House, pursuant to the Committee’s commitment to transparency.

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 Mr Johnson’s conduct, following the instruction of the House of Commons to the Committee to conduct an inquiry into the matter. In its recent 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 on Wednesday 22 March, from 14:00. The Committee will announce further details about that session in due course.

Further information