Boris Johnson’s prime minister has been plagued by a series of scandals since he entered No. 10 in 2019. From “Pestminster” to “Wallpapergate,” the prime minister has tried to weather all the storms during his two year and a half in office. Here is a chronology of the scandal so far:
May 25, 2020
Dominic Cummings refuses to resign or apologize after The Guardian and Mirror reveal their blocking trips to the north-east of England at the height of the Covid-19. Johnson is on the side of his main aide despite the fury of the public, lawmakers and scientists.
July 30, 2020
Charlie Elphicke is found guilty of three counts of sexual assault against two women, less than a year after resigning as Dover Conservative MP. Elphicke had denied all three charges, two of which related to a parliamentary worker. He was later sentenced to two years in prison. His wife, Natalie Elphicke, succeeded him as Dover MP in December 2019.
May 25, 2021
Rob Roberts, Delyn’s Conservative MP for North Wales, has been considered by the group of independent experts in Parliament to have made “significant” repeated unwanted sexual advances towards a former staff member, as well as inappropriate comments of a nature sexual. Conservatives have suspended him for 12 weeks, but allow him to join the party in October 2021.
May 28, 2021
Johnson embarked “foolishly” on a £ 112,000 refurbishment of his official Downing Street flat without knowing how it would be paid, according to a report by ethics adviser Christopher Geidt. However, it is later seen that Geidt did not receive crucial text messages between Johnson and Conservative donor David Brownlow, prompting an apology from the Prime Minister.
June 26, 2021
Matt Hancock resigns as health secretary after it emerged he breached the rules of social distancing by kissing his friend and close aide, Gina Coladangelo, at his ministerial office. The resignation is a major blow to Johnson’s authority, who had been on Hancock’s side when the story erupted 24 hours earlier.
July 8, 2021
Johnson is reprimanded by Parliament’s standards committee for not “establishing the full facts” about a free holiday at a luxury villa in Mustique. The accommodation was arranged by David Ross, the conservative donor and co-founder of Carphone Warehouse, after Johnson “sought and was offered” the use of the town of Ross, according to the report.
October 26, 2021
Former Conservative minister Owen Paterson considers the parliamentary standards oversight body to have committed a “grievous” breach of lobbying rules. Paterson put repeated pressure on the government on behalf of two companies that paid him more than £ 100,000 a year, he found the watchdog. The MP, who maintained his innocence, resigned as North Shropshire’s Conservative representative in November 2021. Subsequent by-elections were won by the Liberal Democrats on 16 December 2021.
Owen Paterson is sitting in the Commons as MPs debate an amendment calling for a review of his case after receiving a six-week ban from Parliament. Photo: House of Commons / PA
December 10, 2021
A high court judge finds that former Conservative minister Andrew Griffiths raped his wife and subjected her to coercive control. Griffiths, who denied the allegations, resigned as a deputy in November 2019 following a series of complaints about his conduct. His wife, Kate Griffiths, who left him when the original stories broke out, succeeds him as Burton’s MP in Staffordshire.
December 18, 2021
Simon Case, the UK’s highest-ranking official, is no longer chairing the investigation into the blockade break-up parties on Downing Street after allegations surfaced that he himself had organized an event during the same period. Senior official Sue Gray takes over.
January 6, 2022
It is revealed that Johnson sought funds to help cover a £ 112,000 makeover on his Downing Street flat of a Conservative donor while promising to consider plans for a “big exhibition”. The work accuses the prime minister of corruption, while Johnson apologizes for not revealing crucial WhatsApp messages to his ethics adviser, Lord Geidt, the previous spring.
April 2, 2022
David Warburton, the Conservative MP for Somerton and Frome, is suspended from the Conservative parliamentary party following a series of allegations related to sexual harassment and cocaine use. An investigation into Westminster’s independent grievance and grievance plan is ongoing from 1 July.
April 11, 2022
Imake Ahmad Khan, the Conservative MP for Wakefield, is found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy after consuming him with alcohol at a party in 2008. He resigns as MP on April 28, provoking a by-election that Labor wins in 2008. June 23rd.
April 29, 2022
Neil Parish, the Conservative MP for Tiverton and Honiton, is stepping down after admitting he saw pornography twice in the House of Commons. His resignation leads to by-elections which translates into a decisive victory for the Liberal Democrats on June 23.
Sign up for First Edition, our free daily newsletter, every weekday morning at 7:00 BST
May 17, 2022
An unnamed Conservative MP is arrested on suspicion of rape and other sexual offenses. The MP, who has not been publicly appointed, is ordered to stay away from Westminster while being investigated by the metropolitan police. He remains on bail from July 1.
May 25, 2022
Sue Gray publishes a compelling report on the blockade parties in Whitehall, revealing that government staff had been fighting drunk, vomiting and singing karaoke until dawn while the UK observed strict Covid-19 restrictions on socialization. . The prime minister says he is “humiliated” and “horrified”, but critics doubt his contrition and calls for his resignation to be made stronger.
June 30, 2022
Chris Pincher, the Conservative deputy director, resigns after admitting he had “embarrassed me and other people” after learning that he palpated two men drunk at a private club. This is the second time Pincher has resigned from the whips ’office, having previously resigned in 2017 after being accused of making an unwanted pass to a Conservative activist.