Facts

Analysis by FullFact has shown that Mr Starmer voted 48 times on matters related in some way to Brexit, but only a handful were directly about whether Britain should be part of the EU. All but three of these votes took place before the UK formally left the EU on 31 January 2020 - so they could not have been in favour of rejoining the EU. 

Verdict

Johnson was misleading the Commons. 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.”

Since this was the third time that Boris Johnson made this false claim, which has been comprehensively debunked by FullFact, in the Commons we think it is fair and reasonable to state that he was wilfully misleading MPs - in other words lying. 

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.