Boris Johnson claimed the UK sent £350 million per week to the EU (Picture: Getty)

A prosecution against Boris Johnson for ‘lies’ told during his Brexit campaign will be heard in court next week.

The Vote Leave figurehead is accused of ‘abusing public trust’ over claims the UK sends £350,000,000 a week to Brussels.

Lawyers are attempting a ‘world-first’ in prosecuting an MP over alleged lying to the public.

The private prosecution has now received a court date and the former London Mayor will be sending his own legal representation.


Private prosecutor Marcus Ball has claimed Johnson committed three offences of misconduct in public office.

The allegations centre round much-trumpeted claims by the Leave campaign, which were plastered over the big red Brexit bus.



The statement that the UK sends £350 million each week to the European Union was found to be misleading by the UK Statistics Authority.

Boris Johnson’s legal team will be at court next week (Picture: Rex Features)

Mr Ball said: ‘I believe when politicians lie democracy dies.

‘If a company director lies to shareholders about financial matters they can be prosecuted.

‘If a self-employed person lies to HMRC about their spending or income, they can be prosecuted.

‘If a member of the public lies to the police about an ongoing investigation, they can be prosecuted.

‘This is because society and public trust cannot function based upon false information.

‘So why shouldn’t a politician be prosecuted for abusing public trust by lying about public spending figures?’

The UK Statistics Authority found this figure to be misleading (Picture: Getty)

An MP has never been prosecuted for misconduct in public office based upon alleged lies told to the electorate.

The case will have an initial private hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on May 14th.

A district judge will make a decision over a public hearing.

Mr Ball has spent three years working on the case and has crowdfunded £370,000 to finance it.

He said the move was not to stop Brexit but was about ‘stopping politicians lying.’

He said he and his team looked into claims made by both Leave and Remain during the Brexit referendum.

Marcus Ball will be back at Westminster Magistrates Court next week for the first hearing (Picture: Sandra Vijandi Photography)

Mr Ball added there were question marks over the behaviour of both sides but they concluded that a case could be brought against Johnson.

The 29-year-old said: ‘My backers and I aspire to set a precedent in the UK common law making it illegal for an elected representative to lie to the public about financial matters.’

Johnson has repeatedly stood by the £350,000,000 figure used by the Vote Leave campaign during the referendum, which he says represented the UK’s weekly gross contribution to EU budgets.

In January, he argued that the gross figure would reach £438,000,000 by the end of a post-Brexit transition period.

Misconduct in a public office is a common law offence which has a maximum of life in prison.

Metro.co.uk has contacted Johnson for comment.