Boris Johnson Faces Trial for ‘Huge Lie’ That Dominated Brexit Referendum Campaign
The favorite to become Britain’s next PM in July is summoned to court after private prosecution over exaggerated claims about funding the European Union was accepted by a judge.
Nico Hines
05.29.19 8:35 AM ET
LONDON—The frontrunner to become Britain’s next prime minister this summer has been summoned to court to face allegations of misconduct in public office over alleged lies told during the Brexit campaign.
In an unprecedented ruling issued here on Wednesday, a judge has paved the way for Boris Johnson to stand trial for a false claim that was at the very center of the Brexit campaign. The Vote Leave campaign bus was emblazoned with the slogan: “We send the EU £350m a week.” The independent U.K. Statistics Authority said the figure was misleading and the Institute for Fiscal Studies argued it was “absurd,” and yet Vote Leave, and Johnson in particular, continued to use the number throughout the hotly contested Brexit referendum in 2016.
One anti-Brexit campaigner was so aggrieved by the prominent use of the claim—which became a symbol of “fake news” during and after the bitter campaign—that he has crowdfunded a legal challenge.
To the shock of the British political establishment, a judge agreed Wednesday that Johnson, the former Conservative mayor of London, should face trial for deliberately lying to the public. “It is alleged that the conduct of which the proposed defendant is accused was a huge lie calculated to mislead the electorate by using inaccurate and misleading statements,” District Judge Margot Coleman wrote in her written statement.
The timing of this extraordinary case could scarcely be worse for Johnson, coming less than a week after he confirmed that he would run to succeed Theresa May as leader of the Conservative Party and thus British prime minister.
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http://www.thedailybeast.com/boris-johnson-faces-trial-for-huge-lie-that-dominated-brexit-referendum-campaign?via=newsletter&source=DDMorning
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