The misleading of parliament is the knowing presentation of false information to

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

, a very serious charge in Westminster system parliamentary assemblies.

Government ministers A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, ...

who are found to have misled parliament will generally lose their ministerial portfolio. By convention, a minister found to have misled parliament is expected to resign or face being sacked. The Scottish Ministerial Code requires ministers to resign if they mislead the Scottish Parliament. For witnesses giving testimony to an Australian parliamentary committee, giving misleading evidence can be considered a contempt of parliament.

Notable instances

Australia

* Motorola affair:

John Olsen John Wayne Olsen, AO (born 7 June 1945) is a former Australian politician, diplomat and football commissioner. He was Premier of South Australia between 28 November 1996 and 22 October 2001. He is now President of the Federal Liberal Party, C ...

Premier of South Australia The premier of South Australia is the head of government in the state of South Australia, Australia. The Government of South Australia follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of South Australia acting as the legislature. The premier is ...

, was forced to resign after misleading parliament.

United Kingdom

In 1994 the

UK parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

's Treasury & Civil Service Committee noted that "the knowledge that ministers and civil servants may evade questions and put the best gloss on the facts but will not lie or knowingly mislead the House of Commons is one of the most powerful tools MPs have in holding the executive to account". The committee argued that any minister who was discovered to have knowingly lied to parliament should resign. Intentionally misleading parliament could result in being held in contempt of parliament; however, it is unclear what penalties there would be. The UK parliament has not levied a fine since 1666. As a result,

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

found that "It’s easier to get thrown out of the House of Commons for calling someone a liar than for lying itself." *

Profumo affair The Profumo affair was a major scandal in twentieth-century British politics. John Profumo, the Secretary of State for War in Harold Macmillan's Conservative government, had an extramarital affair with 19-year-old model Christine Keeler be ...

John Profumo John Dennis Profumo, CBE,( ; 30 January 1915 – 9 March 2006) was a British politician whose career ended in 1963 after a sexual relationship with the 19-year-old model Christine Keeler in 1961. The scandal, which became known as the Profumo ...

, Secretary of State for War. His affair with Christine Keeler, the reputed mistress of an alleged Soviet spy, followed by lying in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

when he was questioned about it, forced the resignation of Profumo and damaged the reputation of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Harold Macmillan's government. * Johnson affair:

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

, UK Prime Minister. on March 5, 2021, a court order showed that Prime Minister

"misled parliament over coronavirus contracts". Subsequently, the leaders of six opposition parties represented in parliament accused him of "a consistent failure to be honest". In 2021, a petition to make knowingly lying to parliament a criminal offence obtained more than 100,000 signatures. The UK government announced that it does not plan to do so.

References

Political terms in the United Kingdom {{Poli-term-stub