Ball v Johnson

Ball v Johnson was an attempted private prosecution application by Marcus J Ball and his company Brexit Justice Limited, on 29 May 2019, against Boris Johnson for three counts of alleged misconduct in public office. The applicants alleged that Johnson "in his position as a Member of Parliament and Mayor of London, abused the public's trust during the 2016 Brexit referendum by lying about the United Kingdom's spending on European Union membership".

Boris Johnson
Johnson in 2018

Johnson repeatedly claimed that "we will take back control of roughly £350m per week"[1] and subsequently said that the "gross figure by 2022, were we to stay in towards the end of this Parliament, would be £438 million a week."[2][3] The head of the UK Statistics Authority Sir David Norgrove called the claim "a clear misuse of official statistics".[4][5] Ball alleges that Johnson knew that these claims were false and made them anyway.

On 23 February the prosecution laid an information of the case at Westminster Magistrates' Court and filed an application for a summons against Johnson.[6] Subsequently, a district judge issued a summons against Johnson and set the first hearing for 14 May.[7] The case was thrown out by the High Court in June 2019.[8][9]

On 3 July 2019 in Johnson v Westminster Magistrates' Court, the Queen's Bench Division (Administrative Court) of the High Court of England and Wales allowed an application for judicial review brought by Johnson against the original decision of the District Judge in Westminster Magistrates' Court.[10] The review quashed the original decision, finding that the District Judge had acted unlawfully in allowing the private prosecution to proceed, and quashed the summons issued for Johnson to appear in court as being unlawfully issued. The court also found that original private prosecution application vexatious in nature.[11]

In December 2019, Ball complained to the Judicial Complaints Investigations Organisation, arguing that members of the judicial review panel had conflicts of interest.[12]

References
  1. Johnson, Boris (31 January 2018). "My vision for a bold, thriving Britain enabled by Brexit". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  2. Asthana, Anushka; Stewart, Heather (15 January 2018). "Leave campaign's £350m claim was too low, says Boris Johnson". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  3. Weston, Katie (1 March 2019). "Boris Johnson reveals TRUE cost of remaining in European Union – 'need a BIGGER bus'". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  4. "Johnson and stats chief in £350m Brexit row". 18 September 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  5. Norgrove, David (17 September 2017). "Letter from Sir David Norgrove to Foreign Secretary" (PDF). UK Statistics Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 December 2019.
  6. "Legal papers lodged against Boris Johnson over his big red Brexit bus 'lies'". Metro. 22 February 2019. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  7. Read, Jonathon. "Date set for court case which could prosecute Boris Johnson over £350 million EU referendum lie". The New European. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
  8. "Brexit: Boris Johnson £350m claim case thrown out by judges". BBC News. 7 June 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
  9. ALEXANDER BORIS DE PFEFFEL JOHNSON and WESTMINSTER MAGISTRATES' COURT (PDF), 3 July 2019
  10. "Brexit: Boris Johnson accuser may appeal '£350m claim' ruling". BBC News. 3 July 2019. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
  11. "HJudges who quashed 'vexatious' private prosecution again Boris Johnson rule false statements in political campaigns 'not new'". The Daily Telegraph. 3 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
  12. Read, Jonathon (21 December 2019). "Judge who threw out court case against Boris Johnson "failed to declare conflict of interest"'". The New European. Archived from the original on 16 January 2020.
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