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“I think I took steps to correct the record earlier.”

Boris Johnson, House of Commons Select Committee

29 March 2022

Facts

Boris Johnson has repeatedly made the claim that there are 430,000 more people in employment than before the pandemic began. As this entry shows, this statement is misleading. After being questioned on his statement by Labour MP Stephen Timms during a House of Commons Select Committee, Mr Johnson said: “I think I took steps to correct the record earlier.” 

Timms responded: “Have you? Ah! I had not seen that.”

Johnson doubled down on his statement, saying: “I think I have.”

But as FullFact pointed out, this is not true. At the time Johnson made this claim, the record had not yet been corrected. 

Verdict

According to the Ministerial Code,  “It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity.  Ministers who knowingly mislead Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation to the Prime Minister.” Boris Johnson was misleading parliament in defiance of the Ministerial Code.

We approached Mr Johnson’s office, the Cabinet Office and the No 10 Press Office to give him a chance to comment, but received no response. 

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