Boris Johnson to learn fate over partygate report - as committee set to conclude he misled parliament

A long-awaited report concluding that Boris Johnson misled Parliament with his partygate denials is set to be published on Thursday morning.

After a 14-month investigation, the Privileges Committee will release its findings on whether the former prime minister committed a contempt of Parliament by misleading MPs either recklessly or deliberately by denying lockdown rules were broken in No 10. Mr Johnson has railed against the committee he has criticised as a “kangaroo court”, and dramatically quit as an MP on Friday after receiving its verdict.

The former Conservative leader’s resignation means he will not serve the lengthy suspension likely to be recommended. If it was at least 10 days and approved by the Commons, then a by-election in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency could have been triggered.

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His decision to quit pre-empted such an outcome, with his constituents to go to the polls next month in a major electoral challenge for Rishi Sunak.

Mr Johnson’s ally Nigel Adams also stepped down and his arch-supporter Nadine Dorries has announced she will go too, though her demands for answers about why she was denied a peerage before she formally quits as an MP look set to prolong the by-election struggle for the Prime Minister.

The Privileges Committee report is expected to be released at around 9am on Thursday and to be some 30,000 words long. Mr Johnson has indicated he will make his “views clear” once it is released.

In a last-ditch attempt to disparage the Tory-majority panel on the eve of publication, he called for its most senior Conservative member to resign. He accused Sir Bernard Jenkin of “monstrous hypocrisy” after the