In advance of tonight’s BBC Question Time debate, here is our guide to the Prime Minister’s lies, deceits, broken promises, attempts to silence Parliament and more.
1. Pyramid of lies
Boris Johnson can’t help himself. Here’s a list of 11 of his top Brexit whoppers during the election – and our rebuttal of them. (We have a whole section of Mythbusts devoted to the topic).
2. Deceits
The Conservatives have spent the campaign spreading fake news. First they doctored a video of Keir Starmer to make it look like he couldn’t explain Labour’s Brexit policy. Then their press office pretended to be an independent fact checker on Twitter during the ITV debate.
3. Russian interference
The Prime Minister is suppressing the House of Commons Intelligence Committee report on Russian threats to our democracy. The dossier reportedly illustrates how the Kremlin interfered in the 2016 referendum – and names nine Russian donors to the Conservative Party.
4. Suspending Parliament
Johnson was so desperate to avoid MPs’ scrutiny that he tried to suspend Parliament. When the Supreme Court ruled this was illegal, Jacob Rees-Mogg called it a “constitutional coup”. It was actually necessary to stop the government stifling democracy.
5. No scrutiny of his surrender deal
The Prime Minister wanted MPs to have just three days to digest and vote on his “surrender deal” and its 1,000-plus pages of turgid text. When MPs foiled that plot, he stopped the debate and pushed for an election. No wonder. His rotten deal is riddled with flaws. (We have a whole section listing them.)
6. Broken referendum promises
Here’s our cut-out-and-keep list of 19 top Brexiter referendum promises. Johnson has broken almost all.
7. Dead in a ditch? Pull the other one.
The Prime Minister said he’d rather be “dead in a ditch” than extend the Brexit deadline past October 31. He did that anyway – and remains very much alive.
Johnson can’t be trusted. Vote against him on December 12
