Those dark days of the pandemic took a huge toll on so many.  The loss of loved ones, missing the birth of a child or the funeral of a friend, the unbearable stress placed on key workers, the closed businesses, and health effects that linger for many to this day.  Faced with such an unprecedented health emergency the British people did what they had to do – they stayed at home and followed the rules, often at great personal sacrifice.

Not Boris Johnson.

While the country hunkered down for the greater good, it’s now confirmed that he oversaw a Downing Street culture which repeatedly breached the same Covid rules they set. When allegations came to light that there had been parties in Downing Street, I asked the-then Prime Minister a very specific, direct question about one of them. Today, with the release of the searingly critical Privileges Committee Report, we know he lied to me, repeatedly misled the House, and impugned our democratic process.

Many people have asked how I feel today, with my question playing a small part in holding this serial liar to account. The answer is mixed. Of course I am pleased that our democratic process has held out, and that Johnson has faced a reckoning for his serial rule breaking and his attempts to hide it by lying. I am pleased that our system of government allows our leaders to be scrutinised by MPs and that their word in the House matters. If we didn’t, my question and the questions of countless other colleagues wouldn’t have mattered. We proved today it does, and telling the truth is imperative.

But equally I am angry and heartbroken when I think of the British public. Doctors, Nurses, care workers, bus drivers, police officers, all law-abiding members of the public. They made sacrifices. They did the right thing. They were lied to by the man making decisions, and they are being insulted by him, and his allies, as they are continuing to attack the processes in place to uphold standards.

The British people deserve better than this contempt they are showing to them and they deserve a government with integrity and honesty at its heart. I hope today, and the focus on our questions and Mr Johnson’s lying, is the first step in restoring standards and delivering a new government which the British people can have faith in.

Watch my interviews today with Newsnight, BBC Scotland  and ITV London.

I also wrote this column for the Independent to share my thoughts on what this day means.