Misleading the country: Boris Johnson and ministers have made dozens of false statements to parliament
Dozens of false statements have been made in parliament by Boris Johnson and his ministers over the past two years amid a “crisis of honesty”, it can be revealed.
The prime minister has not lodged any corrections to the official House of Commons record, despite being reprimanded by the statistics watchdog and having his incorrect statements pointed out by opposition MPs and fact-checkers.
Labour has accused the government of disrespecting the public with a “litany of lies and falsehoods”, while the Conservative former attorney general Dominic Grieve said the figures suggested “a disregard both for good governance and truth”.
The 17 false statements attributed to Mr Johnson following an investigation by The Independent, working with Full Fact, include claims regarding Downing Street parties, refugees, Covid boosters, crime rates, and the economy.
They are among at least 27 uncorrected false statements made by ministers to parliament since the December 2019 general election.
Angela Rayner, the deputy Labour leader, said the prime minister was “degrading his office”.
“This litany of lies and falsehoods show a total lack of respect for the public from this Conservative government and its ministers,” she told The Independent.
“The ministerial code is absolutely clear that mistakes should be corrected as soon as possible, and purposely misleading parliament should mean resignation.
“But ministers are instead taking their lead from the prime minister himself, who has no issue with repeating mistruths and conspiracy theories.”
Calls are mounting for a new system to ensure that false statements can be challenged in parliament without MPs falling foul of a rule that forbids them from accusing one another of lying.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “Every time Mr Johnson and his ministers have misled parliament is just another blow to people’s trust in his sinking ship of a government – those who mislead the public must be held accountable.
“It’s clear that Mr Johnson has already lost the trust of the nation. Now the very least we should do is be able to hold his Trumpian behaviour to account.”
He said there needs to be “serious action to stop ministers running roughshod over the truth”, and called for MPs to be allowed to point out where the prime minister has made “misleading statements”, without the risk of being thrown out of the Commons.
In February, Mr Johnson lodged his first ever “clarification” under a separate process involving a written statement, after claiming that Roman Abramovich was “facing sanctions” as part of a crackdown on Russian oligarchs at a point where had had not been penalised.
Among the false statements made by the prime minister was his 31 January claim that Sir Keir Starmer had “spent most of his time prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile”, referring to the Labour leader’s previous role as director of public prosecutions.
The slur, which was later repeated by protesters who mobbed the Labour leader in Westminster, has not been retracted by Mr Johnson despite the fact that Sir Keir did not make the decision on Savile.
During the same parliamentary debate on 31 January, following a statement on the Sue Gray report, the prime minister claimed that the government had “cut crime by 14 per cent”.
He was reprimanded by Sir David Norgrove, chair of the UK Statistics Authority, who said the figure was “true only if fraud and computer misuse are excluded”, while the crime rate including these categories had increased by 14 per cent.
Other ministers who have made false statements in parliament during the same period include Matt Hancock in his time as health secretary, home secretary Priti Patel, attorney general Suella Braverman, and culture secretary Nadine Dorries.
