- By Paul Seddon
- political reporter
1 hour ago
MPs will later decide whether to vote in favor of a report that found Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament about the lockdown parties in No 10.
A year-long investigation by the Commons Privileges Committee found the former Prime Minister had committed repeated crimes with his partygate denials.
It recommended that had he remained an MP, he should have been suspended from the House of Commons for 90 days.
Rishi Sunak has yet to confirm if he will vote on the results.
For Tory MPs it will be a free vote, meaning party managers – known as whips – will give them no instructions on what to do in the vote, which is expected to take place on Monday night after a debate.
It is likely that some Conservative MPs will abstain or fail to attend.
Housing Secretary Michael Gove, who also served in Mr Johnson’s cabinet, has confirmed he intends to abstain – becoming the only member of the Sunak government to state his intentions.
In his speech on Sunday, he told the BBC there were areas where Mr Johnson’s behavior had fallen short of expectations, but he disagreed with the report’s recommendation for a 90-day suspension.
The vote is politically difficult for the prime minister, who is locked in a bitter argument with his former boss over his list of resignations.
Mr Sunak vowed to put “integrity” at the heart of his government as he entered Downing Street and is under pressure from opposition MPs to approve the cross-party committee’s findings.
But voting for it would anger Mr Johnson’s supporters, some of whom have attacked the committee for its conclusions.
Mr Johnson himself also lashed out at the committee announcing his resignation as MP in an angry statement ahead of the report’s publication, branding it a “kangaroo court”.
video caption,
Watch: Key moments from Boris Johnson’s Partygate barbecue
Votes in the House of Commons will initially be conducted by vote, with a division – where MPs go through voting lobbies to document their support – only convened if the speaker thinks the result is not obvious.
Opposition MPs are expected to shout “yes” later to approve the report. However, if no MEP shouts ‘no’ in the Chamber, there is no split, which means that the votes of individual MEPs are not recorded.
In its report, the Privileges Committee said Mr Johnson deliberately misled MPs when, after the Partygate scandal broke, he assured them that the lockdown rules in No 10 had always been followed.
Mr Johnson argued during the inquiry that his representations were made in good faith and were based on advice from officials.
But MPs noted he had “personal knowledge” of rulebreaking and had failed to “proactively” investigate allegations that Covid rules had been broken during the pandemic.
parliament pass
They concluded that he had committed “contempt” of Parliament on a number of occasions, including by attacking the committee, which they believed justified the 90-day ban, which is long by standards in recent years.
The report also recommends that Mr Johnson should be denied a parliamentary pass, to which he would normally be entitled as a former MP.
Several of Mr Johnson’s allies have criticized the committee for its findings.
Nadine Dorries, culture secretary in Mr Johnson’s cabinet, said the committee had “exaggerated” and warned that any Conservative MP who voted to do so would be “held accountable” by party members.
However, it’s not clear how many of his allies are ultimately willing to show up to voice their opposition.