Skip to main content

Boris Johnson In New Trouble Over Newspaper Column

Former UK prime minister Boris Johnson was unveiled Friday as the Daily Mail's star new columnist -- but attracted an immediate rebuke from a government watchdog to cap a tumultuous 48 hours.

A day after Johnson was given a blistering verdict by a committee of MPs investigating his "Partygate" denials, the right-leaning newspaper announced he would be writing a weekly column on Saturdays.

In a video posted by the Mail, former journalist Johnson said he was "thrilled" to contribute to "those illustrious pages", vowing to deliver "completely unexpurgated stuff".

The anti-immigrant, anti-woke, Brexit-supporting Mail has long been one of Johnson and the Conservative party's most vocal and uncritical backers.

Johnson joked that he would cover politics only when "I absolutely have to" -- but he now has a high-profile platform to pursue his vendetta against Prime Minister Rishi Sunak if he chooses.

However, the ever-controversial Johnson was upbraided for failing to respect the rules governing outside appointments for former ministers.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) is meant to vet all such appointments in the two years after a politician leaves high office.

But Johnson only informed ACOBA half an hour before the Daily Mail posted its announcement on social media, a spokeswoman for the committee said.

That amounted to a "clear breach" of the rules, she said.

"We have written to Mr Johnson for an explanation and will publish correspondence in due course, in line with our policy of transparency."

However, ACOBA cannot force a politician to go back on an appointment, and Johnson's habitual disregard for the rules was laid bare in Thursday's report by the House of Commons privileges committee.

He had already resigned as an MP after being sent a preview of the report, which found that he deliberately misled parliament when denying any knowledge of lockdown-breaking parties in 10 Downing Street.

The House of Commons can no longer vote on the committee's recommendation to suspend Johnson, given his pre-emptive resignation.

But it is due to vote on Monday -- Johnson's 59th birthday -- to decide whether his parliamentary pass should be withdrawn.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)



from NDTV News-World-news https://ift.tt/1qhR2TK
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

US Power Firm Admits It May Have Sparked Texas' Largest Wildfire Ever

A US power company admitted Thursday that its equipment may have sparked the largest wildfire in Texas' history. Xcel -- the parent of Southwest Public Service Company, which provides electricity to part of the state -- said it was working with officials investigating the cause of the blaze that charred more than a million acres (over 400,000 hectares). "Based on currently available information, Xcel Energy acknowledges that its facilities appear to have been involved in an ignition of the Smokehouse Creek fire," the company said. Hundreds of homes are thought to have been destroyed in the fire, which is known to have killed at least two people and over 3,000 farm animals. Xcel, which is facing at least one lawsuit, denied its equipment was improperly maintained. "However, we encourage people who had property destroyed by, or livestock lost in, the Smokehouse Creek fire to submit a claim to Xcel Energy through our claims process," the statement said. The W
Post a Comment
Read more

It's Official, Kamala Harris Is Democratic Candidate For US Election

US Vice President Kamala Harris effectively secured the Democratic party's presidential nomination Friday, confirming her remarkable rise to party standard bearer in November's showdown against Republican Donald Trump. Kamala Harris was the sole candidate on the ballot for a five-day electronic vote of nearly 4,000 party convention delegates. She will be officially crowned at a Chicago convention later this month. "I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States," Kamala Harris, 59, said on a phone-in to a party celebration after securing enough votes by the second day of the marathon vote. In the two weeks since President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid, Kamala Harris has gained full control of the party. No other Democrats stepped forward to challenge her elevation to the top of the ticket, making her confirmation as the first Black and South Asian woman ever to secure a major party's nomination a formality. The a
Post a Comment
Read more

All You Need To Know About Donald Trump's 1st Criminal Trial

Donald Trump goes on trial Monday for allegedly covering up hush money payments to hide affairs ahead of the 2016 presidential election which propelled him into the White House. He will become the first former US president to go on criminal trial when jury selection begins next week. Here are the key questions ahead of the landmark trial: What is Trump accused of? As Trump closed in on victory in the 2016 presidential election, adult film star Stormy Daniels was paid $130,000 to keep quiet about an alleged 2006 sexual tryst with Trump. The payments, made by Trump's lawyer at the time, Michael Cohen, were revealed by The Wall Street Journal in January 2018. Prosecutors have seized on the concealment of the payments as "legal fees" in the Trump Organization's accounts when Cohen was reimbursed as the heart of their case. Prosecutors say Trump "concealed the reason for these payments... which clearly were paid in order to influence voters," former prosec
Post a Comment
Read more