Why has Boris Johnson resigned as MP?

BORIS Johnson has resigned as an MP – triggering a by-election in his Uxbridge constituency.

The ex-PM stepped down following a probe by a committee into alleged lockdown rule breaching parties in Downing Street.

But why has he resigned and what did Mr Johnson say?

Why has Boris Johnson resigned as MP?

The Privileges Committee launched an investigation into Mr Johnson following the Partygate scandal.

BoJo was handed the MP’s draft findings that accused him of lying to the Commons about lockdown breaking at No10 hours before he quit.

In a 1,034-word resignation statement, Mr Johnson branded the Partygate probe a “kangaroo court” and a “Brexit witch hunt“.

And he went on to claim the committee was “determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of parliament”.

He added: “Most members of the Committee – especially the chair – had already expressed deeply prejudicial remarks about my guilt before they had even seen the evidence.”

The chair of the Privileges Committee is Labour’s Harriet Harman.

My Johnson also savaged the Tories’ direction since his No10 defenestration last summer, saying: “We must not be afraid to be a properly ­Conservative government.”

He warned: “We need to deliver on the 2019 manifesto, which was endorsed by 14 million people. We should remember that more than 17 million voted for Brexit.

“When I left office last year the Government was only a handful of points behind in the polls.

“That gap has now massively widened.”

And he warned that PM Rishi Sunak was driving the Tories off an ­electoral cliff, saying: “Just a few years after winning the biggest majority in almost half a century, that majority is now clearly at risk.

“Our party needs urgently to recapture its sense of momentum and its belief in what this country can do.

“We need to show how we are making the most of Brexit and we need in the next months to be ­setting out a pro-growth and pro- investment agenda.

“We need to cut business and personal taxes — and not just as pre-election gimmicks — rather than endlessly putting them up.”

Where is Boris Johnson’s constituency?

Boris Johnson was an MP in the London seat of Uxbridge.

By standing down, he will trigger an immediate by-election.

Mr Johnson called his constituency “wonderful” and said he’s “very sorry” to go.

His statement read: “I am very sorry to leave my wonderful constituency. It has been a huge honour to serve them, both as Mayor and MP.

“But I am proud that after what is cumulatively a 15-year stint I have helped to deliver among other things a vast new railway in the Elizabeth Line and full funding for a wonderful new state of the art hospital for Hillingdon, where enabling works have already begun.”

What will Boris Johnson do now?

The ex-PM hinted at a comeback one-day when he said he was departing front-line politics “at least for now.”

He said: “It is very sad to be leaving parliament – at least for now – but above all I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically, by a committee chaired and managed, by Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias.”