Will Boris Johnson being told to answer to allegations of misconduct in a public office derail his leadership campaign? The former foreign secretary has been told he must appear in court to answer the claims, brought in a private prosecution by campaigner Marcus Ball, who objects to his claim during the referendum that the UK sends £350 million a week to the EU. Today a district judge ruled that there was sufficient evidence to proceed with a trial.
This prosecution will naturally be seen by someone of Johnson’s enemies as a chance to undermine him while he’s the frontrunner in the Conservative leadership contest. But this isn’t likely to have the effect they hope. It is true that Johnson hated being branded a liar after the referendum, and his call for the government to honour the ‘NHS dividend’ which had been promised alongside that £350 million line showed that he felt he needed to set the record a little straighter.
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