Making a false statement about statistics does not amount to misconduct in public office, High Court judges said, as they explained why Boris Johnson will not face a private prosecution for claims he made during the EU referendum campaign.
A summons had been issued for the former foreign secretary and a prominent face of the Vote Leave campaign over his claim during the 2016 campaign that the UK sends £350 million a week to the bloc.
But two senior judges quashed District Judge Margot Coleman’s decision to issue the summons at a hearing in London in June – bringing an end to the case.
Giving reasons for their ruling on Wednesday, Lady Justice Rafferty and Mr Justice Supperstone said Judge Coleman “erred” when reaching her decision.
The “problem of false statements in the course of political campaigning is not new”, Lady Rafferty said, adding that parliament had enacted laws to deal with “certain false campaign statements which it considers an illegal practice”.
However, she said this did not include false statements relating to publicly available statistics, and found Judge Coleman’s decision would have “extended the scope” of the offence of misconduct in a public office.
The attempted private prosecution was brought by Marcus Ball, 29, who claimed Johnson lied during the 2016 referendum campaign.
He crowdfunded more than £300,000 through an online campaign to bring the prosecution.
Speaking to PA outside court after the judges published their reasons, Ball said he will ask his legal team to consider the ruling before deciding whether to appeal.
Judge Coleman made the decision to issue a summons on May 29 for Johnson to attend Westminster Magistrates’ Court to face three allegations of misconduct in public office.
But Johnson, currently the front-runner in the Conservative Party leadership contest, challenged that decision and it was overturned by Lady Justice Rafferty and Mr Justice Supperstone at the conclusion of a hearing in June.
The £350 million figure was emblazoned on the red campaign bus used by Vote Leave during the referendum, with the slogan saying “We send the EU £350 million a week, let’s fund our NHS instead”.
Lady Justice Rafferty said it appeared that “there would have been no complaint” if Johnson had used a figure of “£350 million per week gross, or £250 million per week net”.