The taxpayer will have to foot Boris Johnson’s near-quarter of a million pound legal bill after he was found to be in contempt of Parliament by a cross-party panel.
Branding him the first former prime minister to have ever lied to the Commons, the Privileges Committee recommended a 90-day suspension which would have paved the way for a by-election if he had not quit in anticipation.
His resignation means he will escape that punishment but the committee recommended that he should not receive the pass granting access to Parliament which is normally given to former MPs.
The bill to the taxpayer for Johnson’s lawyers was up to £245,000 at the last count, and could well end up being much more.
Opposition parties have said Johnson should pay his own legal fees given the millions of pounds he has earned since leaving number 10.
The latest register of interests for MPs shows he earned more than £5.5 million since standing down last year.
The BBC reported the Treasury did not sign off the decision to use public money to pay the bill – a move criticised by former civil servants.
Alex Thomas, who worked in the civil service at a senior level and is now director of the Institute of Government, said: “Payment of legal fees to the former prime minister in these circumstances would seem to set a precedent and is certainly contentious, so looks on the face of it to meet the test to require Treasury approval.
“I’m surprised that the payments were made at all – but also that they were signed off in this way.”
Former deputy prime minister Dominic Raab paid his own legal fees during his bullying inquiry.
Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said the arrangement leaving taxpayers covering Mr Johnson’s “Partygate defence fund is not only without precedent but without justification”.
She said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak “must explain why he failed to put a stop to this brazen scheme and take immediate steps to ensure his disgraced predecessor returns this money to the public purse”.
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