Two judges quashed a summons order that would have required the politician to appear in court for an unprecedented private prosecution for the offense of misconduct in public office. The member of Parliament was last month ordered to attend court to answer questions that he made false claims about British spending on the European Union.
Johnson’s team argued that he was merely campaigning when he said that the U.K. sent 350 million pounds ($445 million) a week to the EU — one of the central tenets of the 2016 Brexit debate. The spending claim was painted on the side of a bus and cited repeatedly during the Brexit campaign. The core claim of the Vote Leave campaign was discredited during the campaign by the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee, which called it “highly misleading.”
The decision removes a potential smear on Johnson’s leadership campaign on the day that Prime Minister Theresa May stands down as party leader. He has said the party faces “extinction” if it doesn’t deliver Brexit by the Oct. 31 deadline, and that he’d be willing to leave the EU without a deal if necessary.
Judges Anne Rafferty and Michael Supperstone issued the decision after hearing a challenge from Johnson’s legal team who said the prosecution was the culmination of a “politically-motivated” process. The judges overturned a lower court ruling that Johnson had a case to answer.
The spending claim was just a “political claim open to — and available to — contradiction,” Johnson’s lawyer Adrian Darbishire said at the hearing.
“Misconduct is about secret abuse, corruption,” Darbishire said. “This was a figure that as soon as it was said was disputed, it was batted to and fro.” Voters could simply choose to discount the claim if they wanted to do so, he said.
The decision all but ends campaigner Marcus Ball’s attempt to bring a prosecution. The 29-year-old, who was crowdfunding the attempt said last month that Johnson had acted in a “irresponsible and dishonest” manner and engaged in criminal behavior.
