Partygate: Probe into PM's lockdown breaches 'unfair' says lawyer advising Boris Johnson

A parliamentary inquiry into whether Boris Johnson misled MPs with his partygate denials is "unfair" and "fundamentally flawed", a top barrister has said in a legal opinion.

Lord Pannick's Government-commissioned legal advice states that "the Committee has failed to understand that to prove contempt against Mr Johnson, it is necessary to establish that he intended to mislead the House".

The lawyer warns that "the threat of contempt proceedings for unintentional mistakes would have a seriously chilling effect on all members".

Lord Pannick has said a court would declare the Privileges Committee's approach to the inquiry into whether Boris Johnson misled MPs over partygate "unlawful".

Boris Johnson claimed to have no knowledge of parties at his house, or that he'd attended one

In a Government-commissioned legal opinion, the top barrister said: "We advise Mr Johnson that the Committee is proposing to proceed by reference to substantive errors as to the ingredients of contempt and the standard of proof required, and is proposing to adopt an unfair procedure.

"But for Parliamentary privilege, a court hearing a judicial review application brought by Mr Johnson would declare the Committee's Report to be unlawful."

Labour MP Chris Bryant, who chairs the Privileges Committee but has recused himself from the partygate inquiry, dismissed the Government-commissioned legal opinion by Lord Pannick as "disgraceful bullying".

"You would have thought that Boris Johnson would want to clear his name in front of the Privileges Committee instead of trying to intimidate it," he wrote in a series of tweets.

Outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Picture: PA

"There is no danger of ministers being cowed by this inquiry - although of course it would be good if they were careful that what they say to Parliament is true and accurate - as the House will always recognise an honest mistake quickly corrected...

"It's time this disgraceful bullying stopped. Let's hear and see the evidence. If Johnson has a good case to make, he'll be vindicated. If not, he should take his punishment".

Not allowing the Commons inquiry to investigate whether Boris Johnson corrected the record over his partygate denials would amount to a cover-up, the shadow leader of the House of Commons has said.

Thangam Debbonaire told BBC Radio 4's World at One programme: "This current Prime Minister needs to be able to show - and the investigation's got to be free to investigate this - that he corrected the record at the earliest possible opportunity.

"Otherwise, I'm afraid to say, it just looks like the sleaze and the lies and the cover-ups that people have described it as."

Asked about Mr Johnson's allies' argument that he did not intentionally mislead MPs, she said the job of the cross-party select committee inquiry, which has a Tory majority and will be conducted by "very experienced parliamentarians", is to check that.

"We can't just take the word of allies," she said.

"This is not just a niche thing, it's about trust, it's about truth, I'm afraid to say it's about a Prime Minister who just seems not to care that much about any of that."