Blog: More Partygate evidence published as Boris Johnson prepares to face inquiry – UK politics live – The Guardian

Good morning. Does it matter if ministers don’t tell the truth to parliament? In theory the answer is yes, and ever since John Profumo lied to MPs about his relationship with Christine Keeler Erskine May, the parliamentary rulebook, has been explicit about misleading the Commons being a potential contempt of parliament. But has parliament got the will and the means to enforce this? That is what today’s privileges committee hearing with Boris Johnson is really all about.

For more background, you can read all our Partygate coverage here, and my colleague Archie Bland has a good one-stop summary of what to expect here.

Some reports say the Johnson hearing could last for up to five hours, and we’ve also got PMQs. But that’s not all. The God of News is particularly bountiful today, and we have also got a vote on Rishi Sunak’s Northern Ireland protocol deal, with confirmation overnight that Johnson (him again) will be voting against. My colleague Aletha Adu has the details.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: The Commons privileges committee publishes a bundle of evidence relevant to its inquiry into Johnson.

12pm: Rishi Sunak faces Keir Starmer at PMQs.

After 12.45pm: MP begin the debate on regulations implementing the Stormont lock part of the Windsor framework, the revised version of the Northern Ireland protocol. The vote will come 90 minutes after the debate starts.

2pm: Johnson starts giving evidence to the privileges committee

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