Is it over for Boris Johnson?
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2023
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
After swearing an oath on the King James Bible, Boris Johnson spent nearly three and a half hours being quizzed by fellow MPs on the privileges committee about gatherings in Downing Street during lockdown. The same afternoon, only 22 Tories followed him through the lobbies, defying a three-line whip to vote against the government’s Brexit deal. So is his appeal – and his argument – fading away? And where does it all leave the Conservatives?
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Guest: Henry Zeffman, Associate Political Editor, The Times.
Host: Manveen Rana.
Clips: Parliament TV, Channel 4 News.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | On Wednesday afternoon, in a crowded committee room, in the heart of Westminster, a group |
| 0:13.2 | of MPs from across the political spectrum gathered for what turned out to be a three-hour |
| 0:20.4 | grilling of Boris Johnson. |
| 0:23.0 | Order, order. |
| 0:25.0 | This is a public evidence session of the House of Commons Committee of Privileges. |
| 0:30.0 | More than a year after the party gate scandal broke, the committee wasn't trying to establish |
| 0:36.6 | if the rules had been broken. |
| 0:38.8 | We know they had, but whether Boris Johnson had lied to Parliament about them at moments |
| 0:46.0 | like this. |
| 0:48.0 | Repeat, Mr Speaker, that I have been repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged, |
| 0:55.6 | that there was no party, and that no COVID rules were broken, and that is what I have been |
| 1:02.7 | repeatedly assured. |
| 1:05.9 | What I can tell the right honourable gentleman is that all guidance was followed completely. |
| 1:17.6 | We won't know what the Select Committee has decided for some weeks, but Boris Johnson's |
| 1:22.8 | friends and supporters have already been out in force undermining its conclusions. |
| 1:29.1 | I think he's winning in the court of public opinion who see this as a kangaroo court. |
| 1:34.1 | But for Westminster watches, Wednesday seemed like the beginning of the end. |
| 1:39.4 | I really do think in some ways it felt like the sort of season finale of Boris Johnson. |
| 1:48.6 | You're listening to stories of our times from the Times and the Sunday Times. |
| 1:53.6 | I'm Manvian Rana. |
| 1:55.6 | Today, is it over for Boris Johnson? |
| 2:04.0 | My name is Henry Zaffman, and I am Associate Political Editor of the Times. |
... |
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