UK parliamentary committee to conclude Boris Johnson 'partygate' inquiry

A U.K. parliamentary committee was expected to publish this week a report on whether former Prime Minister Boris Johnson misled lawmakers over lockdown-flouting parties at his office, after lawmakers met Monday to conclude their inquiry.

British media report that the results of the parliamentary Privileges Committee 's highly anticipated investigation into Johnson's conduct could be published in the coming days.

Ahead of the findings being made public, Johnson unexpectedly quit as a lawmaker on Friday and angrily accused political opponents of driving him out in a "witch hunt."

The former prime minister, 58, said the Privileges Committee told him he would be sanctioned for misleading Parliament over "partygate," a series of boozy gatherings in his office that broke strict pandemic restrictions that his government had imposed on the country.

He accused the seven-member committee, the majority of whose members come from his own Conservative party, of bias, calling it a "kangaroo court." In response, the committee said that Johnson had "impugned the integrity" of Parliament.

Johnson's successor, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, backed the parliamentary committee.

"This is a properly set up committee that the House (of Commons) has voted to carry out their work," Sunak's spokesman, Max Blain, said Monday. "The government will in no way traduce or criticize the work of the committee who are doing exactly what Parliament has asked them to do."

The committee could have suspended Johnson from the House of Commons if he was found to have lied deliberately. A suspension of 10 days or more means that Johnson's constituents in his suburban London seat could petition to oust him and elect a new lawmaker.

While Johnson's move...