Commons sleaze watchdog rejects call to ditch probe into Boris Johnson ‘lies’

Parliament’s sleaze watchdog has firmly rejected demands to call off its inquiry into Boris Johnson.

The House of Commons Privileges Committee dismissed a legal opinion obtained by the former PM’s supporters, which found the probe was unfair.

The cross-party panel said that it accepted the advice of Commons clerks and its own legal advisers that the opinion, drawn up by eminent barrister Lord Pannick, was “founded on a systemic misunderstanding of the parliamentary process”.