How could Boris Johnson lead the Tory Party – or the country – from inside a jail cell?
Boris Johnson: His bags are packed but it’s too late to do a runner. He must appear in court to answer charges.
Boris Johnson’s prime ministerial ambition could soon be in tatters after he was told he will face trial for misconduct in public office over claims he made during the run-up to the EU membership referendum.
Mr Johnson supported the much-publicised claim – on the side of the so-called “Brexit bus” – that the UK sends £350m to the EU every week and the money could be better-used to pay for the NHS instead.
In fact, the UK does not send anything like as much money to the EU – and when the country decouples from the European bloc, the money it does send will need to be used to shore up the economy, which is already taking a battering.
If he is found guilty of the offences (there are three listed), then Mr Johnson may face six months’ imprisonment.
This may seriously harm his career plans. He is currently front-runner in the Conservative Party leadership race – but it would be hard for him to be Tory leader, let alone prime minister, from a jail cell. They don’t let you do it.
As far as I can tell, Mr Johnson’s lawyers are saying the court case is a “political stunt” – an attempt to use criminal law to regulate the quality of political debate.
That seems a very sticky wicket on which to go into bat.
We know that MPs lie.
Why not make it a criminal offence to do so?
Boris Johnson is to be summoned to court to face accusations of misconduct in public office over comments made in the run-up to the EU referendum, a judge has ruled.
The ruling follows a crowdfunded move to launch a private prosecution of the MP, who is currently the frontrunner in the Tory leadership contest.
Johnson lied and engaged in criminal conduct when he repeatedly claimed during the 2016 EU referendum that the UK sent £350m a week to Brussels, lawyers for a 29-year-old businessman who has launched the prosecution bid told a court last week.
Source: Boris Johnson to appear in court over Brexit misconduct claims | Politics | The Guardian
Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.
Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:
Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.
1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.
2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical
3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/
Join the Vox Political Facebook page.
4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com
And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!
If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!
Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.
The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:
The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here:
Such good news. This serial should be brought before the Courts for his dishonesty. Well done to Marcus Ball for working hard to bring this case to Court.
I doubt he will go to gaol, that privilege is normally reserved for ‘Benefit cheats’ and those found guilty of receiving a pair of stolen boxer shorts, the Establishment looks after its own.
Once this one is locked up how about IDS up for corporate manslaughter?
whose next?Nigel Farage? he did the same as far as i remember, didnt he?
No doubt the Elite Establishment will help him get off…
Will it be any different from what we got now, perhaps we need a new law against serial liars in parliament, you need to build a few more prisons though as there would be a population explosion
Boris Johnson will NOT be convicted on this. You need only look to the private prosecution of Alistair Carmichael MP after a GE for a similar offence.
Carmichael was accused of leaking a story to the press that Nicola Sturgeon had told the French Ambassador that she’d rather have David Cameron than a Labour PM. In Scotland that WOULD make people hate you. He denied it but was eventually rumbled and then, in court, had to admit that not only had he given the story to the press, but that he’d made it up himself (not something that got a lot of publicity in the press) he done so for political advantage, to help win seats away from the SNP and had himself been reelected to his own seat, it was his own constituents taking him to court.
The courts decision was that politicians are allowed to lie and are allowed to lie during election campaigns, even about things that effect those campaigns.
Carmichael had made up his story. Boris could try to argue that he believed what he said, but having seen interviews it is obvious he knew the truth yet still went on with the £350m version.
The thing is, the difference between the truth and Boris version is an amount of money, he is not making the story up as did Carmichael. Carmichael, had he still been a cabinet minister after the GE would have been forced to resign but THAT IS IT.
This will play well on both sides. Those who see him for what he is will hope he is convicted but his supporters will see this as further proof that he is ‘one of us’ and is being persecuted. When he is, inevitably, acquitted, they will hail him as a hero and it will propel him into leadership.
The moral of the story is, politicians lie all the time, they see it as their job and because they ALL do it, and they make the laws, it isn’t against the law. If you want to bring down a politician, catch them doing something on camera that their own supporters would hate eg Boris voting Labour or something…