Boris Johnson’s premiership has been marked by a series of scandals since he entered Number 10 in December 2019. From ‘Pestminster’ to ‘Wallpapergate’, the Prime Minister has tried to weather every storm during his two-and-a-half years at the helm. Here’s the timeline of the slop so far:
May 25, 2020
Dominic Cummings is refusing to resign or apologise, after the Guardian and Mirror revealed his trips to North East England in the midst of Covid-19 to break the lockdown. Johnson has stood by his top aide despite public anger, MPs and academics.
July 30, 2020
Charlie Elphick has been found guilty of three counts of sexually assaulting two women, less than a year after he resigned as the Conservative MP for Dover. Elphick denied the three charges, two of which involved a parliamentary official. He was later sentenced to two years in prison. His wife, Natalie Elphick, succeeded him as MP for Dover in December 2019.
May 25, 2021
Rob Roberts, the Conservative MP for Dellyn in North Wales, was found by Parliament’s independent panel to have made “significant” repeated unwanted sexual advances towards a former member of staff, as well as inappropriate comments of a sexual nature. He was suspended for 12 weeks by the Conservatives but was allowed to rejoin the party in October 2021.
May 28, 2021
Johnson “unwisely” undertook a £112,000 renovation of his official Downing Street flat without knowing how it would be paid for, according to a report by ethics adviser Christopher Hyde. However, it later emerged that Hyde had not been given important text messages between Johnson and Conservative donor David Brownlow, prompting the prime minister to apologise.
June 26, 2021
Matt Hancock has resigned as health minister after it emerged he broke social distancing rules by kissing his long-time girlfriend and close aide Gina Colaangelo in the minister’s office. The resignation is a huge blow to the authority of Johnson, who stood by Hancock when the story broke 24 hours earlier.
July 8, 2021
Johnson has been reprimanded by parliament’s standards committee for failing to “establish the full facts” about a free luxury villa holiday in Mustique. The accommodation was arranged by David Ross, a Tory donor and co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, after Johnson “requested and was offered” the use of Ross’s cottage, the report said.
October 26, 2021
Former Tory minister Owen Paterson has been found by Parliament’s standards watchdog to have committed a “flagrant” breach of lobbying rules. Patterson repeatedly lobbied the government on behalf of two companies which paid him more than £100,000 a year, the watchdog found. The MP, who pleaded not guilty, resigned as the Conservative representative for North Shropshire in November 2021. The subsequent by-election was won by the Lib Dems on 16 December 2021.
Owen Patterson sits in the House of Commons as MPs debate an amendment calling for his case to be reviewed after he received a six-week ban from Parliament. Photo: House of Commons/Pennsylvania
December 10, 2021
Former Conservative minister Andrew Griffiths has been found by a High Court judge to have raped his wife and subjected her to coercive control. Griffiths, who has denied the allegations, stood down as an MP in November 2019 following a series of allegations about his behaviour. His wife Kate Griffiths, who left him when the original stories broke, succeeded him as MP for Burton in Staffordshire.
December 18, 2021
Simon Case, the UK’s most senior civil servant, is stepping down from chairing the Downing Street inquiry into lockdown-breaking parties after allegations emerged that he himself hosted an event during the same period. Senior civil servant Sue Gray takes over.
January 6, 2022
Johnson has been seeking funds to help cover a £112,000 makeover of his Downing Street flat from a Conservative donor, it has been revealed, while promising to consider plans for a “great exhibition”. Labor accuses the prime minister of corruption, while Johnson apologizes for failing to disclose important WhatsApp messages to his ethics adviser, Lord Hyde, last spring.
April 2, 2022
David Warburton, the Conservative MP for Somerton and Frome, has been suspended from the Tory parliamentary party following a series of allegations relating to sexual harassment and cocaine use. An investigation by Westminster’s Independent Complaints and Complaints Scheme has been ongoing since July 1.
April 11, 2022
Imran Ahmad Khan, the Conservative MP for Wakefield, was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy after plying him with alcohol at a party in 2008. He resigned as an MP on April 28, triggering a by-election in which Labor wins June 23.
April 29, 2022
Neil Parrish, the Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton, has resigned after admitting to viewing pornography twice in the House of Commons. His resignation triggered a by-election that resulted in a decisive victory for the Liberal Democrats on 23 June.
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May 17, 2022
An unnamed Conservative MP has been arrested on suspicion of rape and other sexual offences. The MP, who has not been named publicly, has been ordered to stay away from Westminster while he is investigated by the Metropolitan Police. He remains on bail from July 1.
May 25, 2022
Sue Gray has published a damning report on Whitehall lockdown-busting parties, revealing government officials had drunken brawls, vomited and sang karaoke until dawn as the UK abided by strict Covid-19 social restrictions. The prime minister says he is “humbled” and “horrified”, but critics doubt his remorse and calls for his resignation are growing.
June 30, 2022
Chris Pincher, the deputy leader of the Conservative Party, has resigned after admitting he had “embarrassed myself and other people” following reports he drunkenly groped two men at a private club. It is the second time Pincher has resigned from the whips’ office, having previously stepped down in 2017 after he was reported to have made an unwanted pass at a Tory activist.
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