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Boris Johnson lied during EU referendum campaign, court told


Boris Johnson lied when he repeatedly claimed during the 2016 referendum on EU membership that the UK sent £350m a week to Brussels, lawyers attempting to launch a private prosecution of the MP have told a court.

A barrister acting for Marcus Ball, who has accused Johnson of misconduct in public office and raised more than £200,000 to finance the case, denied suggestions that it was a political stunt.

“The only political stunt were the lies told by the proposed defendant,” Lewis Power QC told Westminster magistrates court on Thursday.

Johnson was not present but a legal team assembled by him were in court.

Setting out the case, which Ball spent nearly three years preparing, Lewis Power QC said it “mattered not” whether one voted Labour, Conservative or Liberal Democrat “or whether you are a leaver of a remainer”, adding: “Democracy demands responsible and honest leadership from those in public office.”

Johnson, both as an MP and mayor of London, chose to repeat “over and over and over a claim” he knew to be untrue, said Power, who went on to quote Winston Churchill on the duties of a member of parliament.

Johnson had “inflated and grossly misrepresented” the facts, said Power, who alleged he had done so in the full knowledge of the impact the claims would have on those hearing them.

Adrian Darbishire QC, for Johnson, had earlier told the court there was a danger of a misunderstanding that Johnson’s legal team had somehow conceded some element of the prospective case made by Ball. This was not the case, he said.

Darbishire later told the judge: “I should make it clear that because of the interest in this case that it is absolutely denied by Mr Johnson that he acted in an improper or dishonest manner at any time.”

The hearing continues.