BBC Question Time Audience Gives Damning Verdict On Boris Johnson Telling The Truth To MPs

Not a single person in the BBC Question Time audience believed Boris Johnson was telling the truth when appearing before MPs over partygate.

The former prime minister is fighting for his political future after MPs investigating his denials denounced the “flimsy” assurances they were based on.

On Thursday, Fiona Bruce, host of the BBC’s flagship politics show, attempted to gauge the opinion of the Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, audience.

She said: “There are more people in this audience who voted for Boris Johnson for the Conservative Party than for any other single party here.

“So, let’s have a show of hands, shall we? Who believes Boris Johnson was telling the truth yesterday?”

When nobody raised their hand, the panel reacted variously with “wow” and “gosh”.

The privileges committee is trying to determine whether Johnson deliberately or recklessly misled parliament.

In a televised evidence session that included a series of short-tempered exchanges, the MPs picked apart Johnson’s 52-page defence dossier and public statements on Downing Street rule-breaking.

If a proposal for a 10-day suspension is voted through by MPs, a by-election in Johnson’s seat could be triggered, potentially spelling the end of his parliamentary career.

The ex-PM accepted he misled MPs but said he did not do so “recklessly”, insisting he denied lockdown breaches “in good faith” on the advice of officials, who turned out to be wrong.

Harriet Harman, the Labour chair of the Tory-majority committee, asked whether he could see why they were “a bit dismayed about the flimsy nature” of the assurances.

Senior Tory Bernard Jenkin questioned why Johnson failed to take “proper advice”, which Johnson angrily rejected as “complete nonsense”.