Following our scoop that Privileges Committee inquisitor Bernard Jenkin attended a birthday drinks party in parliament during lockdown, Boris has sent Guido this statement:

If this is true it is outrageous and a total contempt of parliament.

Bernard Jenkin has just voted to expel me from parliament for allegedly trying to conceal from parliament my knowledge of illicit events.

In reality of course I did no such thing.

Now it turns out he may have for the whole time known that he himself attended an event – and concealed this from the privileges committee and the whole House for the last year.

To borrow the language of the committee, if this is the case, he “must have known” he was in breach of the rules

Why didn’t he say so?

He has no choice but to explain his actions to his own committee, for his colleagues to investigate and then to resign.

Inquisitor Bernard now has questions of his own to answer.