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‘They lied to you’: Blistering Ros Atkins clip provides irrefutable evidence of PM’s prevarication

The BBC’s Ros Atkins has provided irrefutable proof that Boris Johnson lied to the public over lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street and Whitehall.

Downing Street has continued to insist the prime minister did not mislead Parliament when he claimed rules were followed, despite Scotland Yard deciding to issue an initial 20 fines after its investigation into events.

The decision to issue FPNs means the police believe the law was broken – with more fines expected to follow as officers continue to sift through evidence.

Yet at the start of December last year, when the first allegations of parties in Number 10 that broke Covid rules emerged, Johnson told parliament that “all guidance was followed completely”, a line he repeated six days later as more evidence emerged.

This prevarication has continued throughout the whole saga, as Atkins demonstrably proves below.

It led Alastair Campbell to tweet: “He lied. He misled Parliament. He broke the law. He has to go.”

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Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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