Boris Johnson resigns as an MP with IMMEDIATE EFFECT

Boris Johnson has resigned as the MP for Uxbridge & South Ruislip with immediate effect after receiving a letter from the privileges committee about its Partygate probe.

Johnson, 58, released a 1,000-word resignation statement stressing he was "bewildered and appalled" by the privileges committee's drive to oust him from the House of Commons.

The ex-Prime Minister said: "It is very sad to be leaving Parliament - at least for now - but above all I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically, by a committee chaired and managed, by Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias.

"I am being forced out by a tiny handful of people, with no evidence to back up their assertions, and without approval even of Conservative party members let alone the wider electorate.

"I believe that a dangerous and unsettling precedent is being set."

Johnson was facing an investigation from the privileges committee over whether he "knowingly or recklessly" lied to MPs about parties held in Whitehall while Covid-curbing restrictions were in place.