Boris Johnson’s tenure was marred by scandals; remember the greatest

The crisis facing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson now may be the most severe for his leadership yet – but it is definitely not the first. He is expected to resign this Thursday (7).

Johnson’s administration has been plagued by a series of scandals, from accusations of its flouting of lockdown rules and revelations of illegal parties being held on Downing Street, to allegations of impropriety and abuse by Conservative lawmakers.

Here are some of his government’s most notable scandals.

Illegal prorogation of Parliament

Critics of the government have often accused the prime minister of flouting government procedure and bending the rules when it suited him, such as when he decided to ask the queen to suspend or close parliament for five weeks at the height of a political crisis over Brexit. .

The monarch complied, in line with her duty to stay out of politics and act only on the advice of ministers of state.

But when the Supreme Court ruled that the extension was illegal, it raised the uncomfortable question of whether the Queen had broken the law. The decision led to accusations that the Johnson government deliberately misled the monarch as part of her strategy to secure Brexit.

Johnson was forced to apologize in person, according to the Sunday Times.

The botched overtime was just one example of Johnson’s disregard for parliamentary rules and standards. He supported Home Secretary Priti Patel after an investigation into employee intimidation found she violated the Ministerial Code and failed to “treat her public officials with consideration and respect”, with “behavior that can be described as intimidation”.

Johnson’s ethics adviser Alex Allen resigned over the case.

The apartment renovation

One of the first scandals Johnson faced was an allegation of corruption after WhatsApp messages revealed he had asked a Conservative Party donor for funds to renovate his Downing Street residence. British news agencies reported that the work cost around US$280,000.

Political donations and loans are tightly controlled in the UK, with loans of over US$10,400 registered and publicly revealed by a commission four times a year.

Johnson did not report the donations and, as a result, the Conservative Party was fined £17,800 by the Election Commission in December last year.

Owen Paterson Lobby Scandal

Last year, Johnson tried to force Conservative lawmakers to vote in favor of lifting the suspension of a fellow party member of Parliament.

Owen Paterson, an influential Conservative member and former cabinet minister, faced a 30-day suspension after being accused of a “serious” violation of lobbying rules.

After a backlash, Johnson turned around and Paterson eventually stepped down.

The Liberal Democrats won Paterson’s seat – one that the Conservatives held for nearly 200 years – in the subsequent election in December.

“Partygate”

Johnson faced months of hurtful revelations from parties held in Downing Street, the British government’s official residence and headquarters, in defiance of Covid-19 lockdowns, with leaked footage of the party surfacing in the media since January.

A report published in May by senior civil servant Sue Gray criticized a culture of events that broke the rules and revealed new photos of him at two separate meetings.

Between the parties: a night of drinking on the eve of Prince Philip’s funeral – at a time when strict limits on socialization forced even the Queen to sit alone to say goodbye to her husband of nearly 74 years.

Gray wrote that “senior leadership at the center” of the Johnson administration “must take responsibility” for a culture that allowed parties to take place.

Johnson himself was fined by the London Metropolitan Police for attending a party on government premises, making him the first UK prime minister in history to have broken the law in office.

Sunak, who resigned on Tuesday, was also fined for participating in the same event.

Johnson’s handling of the scandal was particularly misguided, with Downing Street first denying there were meetings, then saying he didn’t know about them, and then claiming he attended them because he believed they were work events.

Allegations of Misconduct Against Pincher

The collective resignation of members of the government was triggered by revelations that Johnson appointed Chris Pincher to his government despite knowledge of previous allegations of sexual misconduct.

Pincher, deputy head of the Conservatives, resigned last week after allegations he groped two guests at a private dinner.

Pincher did not directly admit to the allegations, but told Johnson in a letter that “last night I drank too much” and “shame on myself and others.”

Downing Street struggled to explain why Pincher was in government in the first place, amid a wave of revelations about his alleged past conduct, denying that Johnson knew anything specific about the allegations.

On Tuesday, a complaint against Pincher surfaced at the Foreign Office about three years ago and that Johnson was told what happened. Downing Street then said that he had forgotten.

Johnson acknowledged that “it was a mistake” to appoint Pincher to his government on Tuesday, but the damage had already been done.

The wave of government resignations began just minutes after he apologized for the decision, with Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid delivering their warnings.

Over the next 24 hours, dozens followed the movement.

* CNN’s Rob Picheta and Luke McGee contributed to this story