Boris Johnson resigns from UK parliament

Britain’s former prime minister, Boris Johnson, abruptly resigned his parliamentary seat on Friday, another dramatic twist in the career of one of the country’s most flamboyant and divisive politicians.

Johnson has been under investigation from a committee of the House of Commons that was looking into whether he had lied to Parliament over lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street during the Covid-19 pandemic, reports nytimes.com.

On Friday, having received a confidential copy of their findings, he accused the committee of attempting to drive him out, adding: “They have still not produced a shred of evidence that I knowingly or recklessly misled the Commons.”

The committee had the power to recommend a sanction that could have led to Mr. Johnson being forced into an election to hold onto his constituency just outside London — a contest he might well have lost.

Instead, the former prime minister pre-empted that prospect by quitting. His decision means that there will now be a by-election in the constituency, but one he says he will not contest.

Johnson had made little secret of his ambition to win back the job of prime minister, and holding a seat in Parliament is a prerequisite of doing so. But it remained unclear whether this was a permanent departure from the House of Commons for Mr. Johnson, who once before resigned a seat to become London mayor, then returned to represent a different constituency.