Boris Johnson resigns as MP with immediate effect and says he is ‘bewildered and appalled’ at being ‘forced out’ – as it happened

• Boris Johnson is stepping down as an MP with immediate effect and says he is ‘bewildered and appalled’ at being ‘forced out’. He took the move after the Privileges Committee of the House of Commons found he misled Parliament and recommended sanctions of more than 10 days.

• The Privileges Committee to meet on Monday to conclude inquiry into whether Johnson misled MPs.

• Johnson claims attempt to reverse Brexit behind his being found to have misled parliament.

• ‘Good riddance’ was how some opposition MPs reacted to Johnson’s resignation.

• Johnson said there was ‘not a shred of evidence’ he misled Commons as he steps down and that the Tories must ‘recapture momentum’ in a stinging resignation rebuke to the Sunak government.

The Guardian has created a timeline of alleged lockdown parties and UK deaths, what Covid rules were in place at the time and what Boris Johnson said.

The Partygate scandal has been thrown back into the spotlight after Boris Johnson quit as an MP in anger at an investigation which found he misled parliament over lockdown-breaking events in Downing Street.

With more than 220,000 Covid deaths to date, the Guardian plots the UK death toll against dates on which the staff parties are alleged to have occurred, as well as other alleged breaches of lockdown rules and Johnson’s comments on the gatherings.

Boris Johnson is going to be a “thorn” in Rishi Sunak’s side “forever”, the former prime minister’s biographer has said.

Sonia Purnell gave her view on why Johnson resigned to BBC Newsnight. “He was keeping the grievance thing going, which is what he needs.

“But I think also there is a money thing here too. He is earning a lot of money, we know that. But that would become more difficult if he had lost the vote on the floor of the house.

“I think that would have been part of his calculation, but that grievance thing, he never wants to give up.

“He’s not really going off into the sunset. He’s going to be a thorn in Sunak’s side forever.”

Have I Got News For You was doomed to be a step behind today, having recorded their latest episode the day before Boris Johnson’s resignation.

The topical news comedy show joked it needs to start recording episodes on Fridays.

This week’s episode featured comedian Harry Hill as host - his first ever appearance on the show - and was recorded on Thursday.

Johnson’s surprise announcement came shortly after 8pm, with Have I Got New For You set to air at 9pm.

Shortly after the news, the show’s Twitter account wrote: “Perhaps we need to start recording the show on a Friday...”

Comedian Richard Osman, who has previously guest hosted the show, expressed sympathy with those involved.

“My thoughts and prayers with everyone who had to record ‘Have I Got News For You’ last night,” he said.

Johnson has appeared several times on Have I Got News For You, both as guest panellist and host.

9 Jun 202317.43 EDT

Pippa Crerar

When Boris Johnson sat down to draft his resignation statement after learning the privileges committee had concluded that he lied to MPs over Partygate, he was determined to leave his enemies – on both sides of the Commons – a clear message.

“It is very sad to be leaving parliament,” he wrote. “At least for now …” That he still harbours hopes of a comeback – despite the damage that he has done to his own reputation, the Conservative party brand and to the country more widely – should surprise nobody.

Since he announced in July 2022 that he was quitting as prime minister, Johnson has made no secret of the fact that he felt he had nothing wrong and so had been treated unfairly. “I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out,” he said.

Boris Johnson “impugned the integrity of the House” by his furious resignation statement, a spokesperson for the Privileges Committee said

Responding to Johnson’s resignation, the spokesperson said: “The Committee has followed the procedures and the mandate of the House at all times and will continue to do so.

“Mr Johnson has departed from the processes of the House and has impugned the integrity of the House by his statement. The Committee will meet on Monday to conclude the inquiry and to publish its report promptly.”

Shadow secretary of state for health and social care Wes Streeting defended Privileges Committee chairwoman Harriet Harman after Johnson’s accusations of “bias”.

“@HarrietHarman has more integrity in one little finger than all her detractors combined,” Mr Streeting tweeted.

“The Conservative Party is an ungovernable rabble and their time is up.”

The Privileges Committee will meet on Monday to conclude its inquiry into
whether Boris Johnson misled MPs and plans to “publish its report promptly”
following the former prime minister’s resignation from the Commons, a spokesman
said.

George Osborne, the former Chancellor, and not one of Boris Johnson’s biggest supporters, has tweeted.

Boris Johnson gave evidence in March during a a tetchy three-and-a-half-hour evidence session in which he repeatedly claimed No 10 parties, with alcohol and little social distancing, had been “necessary” for work purposes despite the Covid guidance in place at the time.

It’s worth revisiting the highlights of his evidence session as he insisted ‘hand on heart’ he had not lied to the Commons over workplace gatherings in Downing Street during the pandemic. In his resignation letter today, he again insists “I did not lie, and I believe that in their hearts the Committee know it.”

4:42

Priti Patel, who served under Boris Johnson as home secretary and was nominated for a damehood in the former prime minister’s long-awaited resignation honours list, tweeted a message of support for Johnson, describing him as “a political titan”.

She tweeted: “Boris Johnson has served our country and his constituency with distinction. He led world in supporting Ukraine, got Brexit done, and was our most electorally successful prime minister since Margaret Thatcher. Boris is a political titan whose legacy will stand the test of time.”

Guardian columnist Jonathan Freedland compares Johnson’s resignation letter to the rhetoric of Donald Trump.

Boris Johnson’s resignation letter makes it clear he sees his departure as temporary. “It is very sad to be leaving parliament – at least for now,” he writes. It echoes the reference to Cincinnatus he made when standing down as prime minister in which he, slightly less obviously, suggested he viewed his exit as less than permanent.

The Guardian’s political editor Pippa Crerar says Johnson’s move today took many by surprise – and may have been because he wanted to walk on his own terms rather than be forced out by MPs or constituents. But, she argues, this time a comeback may be beyond him but warns of his ability to cause chaos from the sidelines.

There is no sign that Johnson is planning to go quietly, and every indication that he will continue lobbing political hand grenades from the sidelines, even as he tours the globe making millions from speaking engagements.

Johnson has already taken parting shots at Sunak, telling him the party needs “urgently to recapture its sense of momentum”, make the most of Brexit, cut business and personal taxes, push for a free trade deal with the US and in essence “not be afraid to be a properly Conservative government”.

The former prime minister has long relished comparisons with his historical and political hero, Winston Churchill, who was returned to office in 1951 despite losing the 1950 election, and went on to serve as prime minister for another four years.

But despite his reputation for staging gravity-defying political comebacks, both Tory MPs and others from across Westminster really do believe that it is over for Boris Johnson this time.

Andrea Jenkyns, the Tory MP for Morley and Outwood who was nominated for a damehood by Boris Johnson, has said she will not resign in the wake of the former prime minister’s resignation.

She tweeted: “To the journalists calling me tonight, just to clarify I am certainly not resigning. It’s a great honour to serve my constituents & our great country. The unjust events & BorisJohnson resignation tonight has made me more determined to stand up to the blob wherever they reside.”

Earlier today, the Cabinet Office released a letter telling the Covid inquiry that Boris Johnson’s diaries from his time as prime minister are their property and exist to record his engagement.

They say they are not personal diaries. The letter says that they are working with security services in regards to turning on Johnson’s old phone so that the inquiry can investigate his WhatsApp messages.

ITV News’s deputy political editor Anushka Asthana shared this tweet

Guardian columnist Hugh Muir has written about Boris Johnson’s honours list, saying it is shoddy. disheartening but undeniably him.

If nothing became Boris Johnson more than the manner of his leaving No 10, nothing says more about the political rot he accelerated than the honours list that trails behind him and his announcement tonight that he will quit parliament having been told he faces ignominious suspension.

To scan the list that was perhaps his final act in frontline politics is to relive the era of cronyism and maladministration that he inflicted on the country. It redefined the very idea of honours as a reward for public service, replacing it with the sort of cheap favour you bestow on friends by buying them a seaside hat or a round in the pub.

The SNP’s leader in Westminster Stephen Flynn has joined the criticism of Boris Johnson. He said: “Good riddance. No one in Scotland will shed a tear to see the back of Boris Johnson.

“The SNP will be working hard for every vote at the next election, so Scotland can get rid of these rotten Tory governments for good with independence.”