Boris Johnson banned from Parliament as MPs back damning report into partygate denials

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor When Variety talks to Zoe Saldana and her husband, the artist and film director, Marco Perego, they’ve only just arrived in Taormina and are in the process of unpacking. Room service arrives and Zoe apologizes about having to tuck into the salad straightaway. They’re here attending the world premiere of Perego’s debut film as a director, “The Absence of Eden,” a drama that takes place in the murky world of the U.S.’s southern border, a hellish landscape inhabited by Coyotes, ICE officers, desperate immigrants and refugees. It’s a universe away from the Pandora of the “Avatar” pictures or the science fiction blockbusters “Star Trek” and “Guardians of the Galaxy” Saldana is more usually associated with. “When I was picked for those films, I had no idea they were going to become franchises. I thought it was going to be a one and done kind of thing. I hold all of those films responsible for any kind of global notoriety I may have. However, it’s time consuming. Between ‘Star Trek,’ ‘Guardians’ and ‘Avatar,’ I had solid work for over 10 years. As I became an asset that had a certain value in this industry, I could turn that to films like this.”

Gene Simmons has revealed he asked former Kiss members Peter Criss and Ace Frehley to perform at the band’s last ever shows, but both refused.Kiss are in the middle of their farewell ‘End Of The Road’ tour, which they are in the UK for this week. Their last-ever shows are set to take place at Madison Square Garden in their hometown of New York on December 1 and 2.Fans hoped Criss and Frehley would make an appearance at Kiss’s last shows, but the chances of that happening appear slim, seeing as Simmons has claimed multiple offers were made and declined.“For the older fans, the ones who’ve been around for 50 years, they’re old, and some of them wanna see Ace and Peter. The newer fans never saw them and they don’t know,” Simmons told Linea Rock [via Classic Rock]“But the older fans wonder about Ace and Peter.

J Hus has announced the imminent arrival of his first new album since 2020’s Big Conspiracy. Due out July 14 via Black Butter, Beautiful and Brutal Yard will feature two previously released tracks: his May solo single “It’s Crazy” and the Drake-featuring “Who Told You,” shared earlier this month.

Taylor Swift played her second ‘Eras’ tour gig in Cincinnati last night (July 1), duetting with Aaron Dessner and Gracie Abrams.As the stadium tour of the US rolls on into summer, Swift played two shows in the Ohio city this weekend at the Paycor Stadium.At the second on Saturday night, the ‘surprise’ segment of the show featured two collaborations.

And Just Like That… star Cynthia Nixon has shared her disappointment that the much-hyped cameo appearance by Kim Cattrall in the second series was leaked before it made it to air. 

Renowned newsreader Clive Myrie, 58, has shed light on why he was hastily removed from BBC News At Ten, following his guest appearance on Have I Got News For You (HIGNFY). Citing an issue of timing, he explained that the two programmes aired "too close" to one another.

It’s been reported that Clive Myrie was removed from presenting BBC Ten O’Clock News because of some jokes he’d made about Boris Johnson during Have I Got News For You.

Naman Ramachandran Respected British broadcaster Clive Myrie was removed at the last minute from presenting an edition of the BBC’s “News at Ten” last week, according to a report in the U.K.’s Times newspaper. Myrie was replaced by Jane Hill as the news bulletin presenter on June 16 because BBC chief content officer Charlotte Moore had impartiality concerns regarding the ruling Conservative party, per the Times. Earlier that evening, Myrie had hosted the BBC’s “Have I Got News For You,” a satirical comedy quiz show that grills celebrity contestants on the week’s top stories and news, where he made several jokes about former Prime Minister Boris Johnson who had been found guilty of deliberately misleading the U.K. parliament over the ‘partygate’ scandal.

partygate? Footage of Tory staff drinking, dancing and mocking Covid laws at the height of the lockdown. The explosive, 35-second clip — the first ever video of that now-infamous Christmas party at the Conservative Party HQ— was exposed by The Mirror over the weekend and shows officials (including two named on Boris Johnson’s controversial resignation honours list last week) dressed up in Christmas jumpers, dancing and appearing to joke about pandemic restrictions at a time when indoor socialising was banned in December 2020 — and the same day then health-secretary Matt Hancock announced that London would enter tier 3 restrictions.

Alister Jack did not vote in favour of a report which said that Boris Johnson had lied to parliament about partygate because he believed the sanction was "excessive".

partygate? Footage of Tory staff drinking, dancing and mocking Covid laws at the height of the lockdown. The explosive, 35-second clip — the first ever video of that now-infamous Christmas party at the Conservative Party HQ— was exposed by The Mirror over the weekend and shows officials (including two named on Boris Johnson’s controversial resignation honours list last week) dressed up in Christmas jumpers, dancing and appearing to joke about pandemic restrictions at a time when indoor socialising was banned in December 2020 — and the same day then health-secretary Matt Hancock announced that London would enter tier 3 restrictions.

A new Partygate police probe could be launched as previously unseen footage has been released showing Tory staff partying and breaking lockdown rules in December 2020. A bombshell video reveals how officials mocked strict Covid regulations at the Conservative Campaign Headquarters in London.

Dermot O'Leary was forced to issue an apology on behalf of one of his co-stars during today's episode.

Naman Ramachandran A day after a U.K. parliamentary privileges committee concluded that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson was “deliberately disingenuous” about parties in his residence during COVID-19 lockdown, he has landed a plum writing gig. Johnson will write a weekly column for U.K. tabloid The Daily Mail. His previous journalism experience includes being the Brussels correspondent, and later political columnist, for The Daily Telegraph, followed by the editorship of The Spectator. After he became a politician, he wrote a column for The Telegraph, which ceased in 2019. The Mail teased Johnson’s appointment on Friday and confirmed it later the same day.

Mhairi Black has urged Douglas Ross to "grow a backbone" and whip Scottish Conservative MPs to vote in favour of sanctions against Boris Johnson.

Rod Stewart has explained why he is “still a bit of a fan” of Boris Johnson. The “Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?” singer shared his views on the former prime minister after a damning report found that he repeatedly lied to Parliament about gatherings in Downing Street during lockdown. The report concluded that Johnson was “complicit in a campaign of abuse and intimidation” of the privileges committee.

Former prime minister Boris Johnson’s diaries have revealed 16 other gatherings he was involved in which may have broken lockdown rules.

Boris Johnson committed “repeated contempts” of Parliament with his partygate denials that merited a 90-day suspension, a cross-party investigation has found.

Naman Ramachandran Boris Johnson was “deliberately disingenuous” about parties in his residence, No. 10 Downing Street, during COVID-19 lockdown, a parliamentary privileges committee has found. When news emerged about the parties, Johnson was asked several times about the parties at the House of Commons, but denied them every time. A privileges committee, with a majority from the Conservatives – the party that Johnson belongs to – was set up to look into the matter. An advance copy of their findings was shared with Johnson who resigned as a member of parliament rather than risk suspension, which would have eventually led to his ouster, if found guilty.

A parliamentary inquiry has concluded that former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson actively misled MPs multiple times with his statements in response to the so-called Partygate scandal, in which he and his staff were accused of breaking social distancing rules during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Boris Johnson has sent an 11th hour letter to the committee investigating whether he misled Parliament over parties held during lockdown. The former PM is being investigated by Westminster's Privileges Committee over whether he told the truth about parties held at Downing Street during the coronavirus pandemic.