Tag: Boris

The House of Commons voted 354 to seven on Monday to endorse the privileges committee’s report…reports Asian Lite News

Legislators in the United Kingdom have voted to approve a report that recommended sanctioning former Prime Minister Boris Johnson for lying to parliament about boozy, law-breaking parties held during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The House of Commons voted 354 to seven on Monday to endorse the privileges committee’s report, which concluded that the former leader should have his parliamentary pass revoked. Had he not already quit, it would have also recommended a 90-day suspension from parliament.

Johnson abruptly resigned from parliament 10 days ago after seeing an advance copy of the report, calling the inquiry a “witch hunt”.

“It is important to show the public that there is not one rule for them and another for us,” said Conservative Party politician Theresa May, Johnson’s predecessor as prime minister.

Opening the five-hour debate, House of Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt urged legislators to “do what they think is right”. Mordaunt, a Conservative like Johnson, said she would vote to endorse the report by the Commons Privileges Committee.

“This matters because the integrity of our institutions matter. The respect and trust afforded to them matters,” said Mordaunt. “This has real-world consequences for the accountability of members of Parliament to each other and the members of the public they represent.”

A handful of Johnson allies spoke up to defend the former leader. MP Lia Nici said, “I cannot see where the evidence is where Boris Johnson misled Parliament knowingly, intentionally or recklessly”.

Many Conservative MPs were absent from the debate – including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. Wary of riling Johnson’s remaining supporters, he stayed away.

Max Blain, Sunak’s spokesman, said the prime minister had “a number of commitments,” including a meeting with Sweden’s leader.

Johnson, who turned 59 on Monday, was not there either. He stepped down as prime minister in September 2022 but remained an MP until June 9, when he quit after receiving notice of the Privileges Committee’s findings.

Monday’s debate was the latest aftershock from the “Partygate” scandal over gatherings in the prime minister’s Downing Street headquarters and other government buildings in 2020 and 2021.

The revelation that political staffers held birthday gatherings, garden parties, and “wine time Fridays” during the pandemic sparked anger among Britons who had followed rules imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus, unable to visit friends and family – or even say goodbye to dying relatives in hospitals.

Labour Party MP Chris Bryant said “there is visceral anger” among voters about Partygate.

Memories were revived this week by the Sunday Mirror newspaper’s publication of video showing staffers drinking and dancing at an event at Conservative Party headquarters in December 2020, when people from different households were banned from mixing indoors.

The Privileges Committee of MPs, which has a Conservative majority, was asked to investigate whether Mr Johnson had misled MPs over what he knew about parties held in Downing Street during Covid lockdowns – dubbed the Partygate scandal.

Its report concluded that Johnson made multiple deliberately misleading statements to Parliament about events at No 10. Ahead of the report’s publication, Johnson announced he was quitting as an MP, branding the committee a “kangaroo court”.

The report found Johnson had committed further “contempts” of Parliament by attacking the committee, increasing the severity of the recommended sanction.

The committee subsequently recommended a 90-day suspension for Johnson – a long ban by recent standards – as well as denying him the parliamentary pass, which he would normally be entitled to as a former MP. If he had still been an MP, the suspension could have triggered a by-election in his constituency.

Speaking during a Commons debate ahead of the vote, Mrs May said backing the report would be “a small but important step in restoring people’s trust” in Parliament.

It was “important to show the public that there is not one rule for them and another for us”, she said.

May urged her fellow MPs to vote in support of the report “to uphold standards in public life, to show that we all recognise the responsibility we have to the people we serve, and to help to restore faith in our parliamentary democracy”.

During the debate, supporters of Johnson spoke out against the report’s findings. Nici, who was Johnson’s parliamentary private secretary, told MPs she could not see any evidence he had knowingly misled Parliament.

She questioned the impartiality of the committee and suggested the process was “political opportunism” for people who did not like Johnson.

Former minister Sir Jacob, who was knighted by Johnson in his resignation honours, described the proposed 90-day suspension as “a vindictive sanction”. In response to accusations some Johnson allies had attempted to discredit the committee’s work, Rees-Mogg said it was “absolutely legitimate to criticise the conduct of a committee” and its members.

However, the committee’s chairwoman, Labour MP Harriet Harman, said its members had to “withstand a campaign of threats, intimidation, and harassment designed to challenge the legitimacy of the inquiry”.

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It will be a free vote for Tory MPs, meaning party managers will not instruct them what to do at the vote…reports Asian Lite News

MPs will decide later whether to endorse a report that found Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament over lockdown parties in No 10.

A year-long inquiry from the Commons privileges committee said the former prime minister committed repeated offences with his Partygate denials. It recommends he should have been suspended from the Commons for 90 days if he had remained an MP.

Rishi Sunak is yet to confirm whether he will vote on its findings. It will be a free vote for Tory MPs, meaning party managers – known as whips – will not instruct them what to do at the vote, which is expected to take place on Monday evening after a debate.

The report is expected to pass easily, but it is unclear whether a vote will be recorded, with Johnson asking his allies not to vote against it.

Asked by ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Sunak repeatedly declined to say if he would vote on the report, saying it is “a matter for the House [of Commons], not for the government”.

“That’s an important distinction and that’s why I wouldn’t want to influence anyone in advance of that vote,” he said.

It is likely that some Conservative MPs could abstain or not turn up to take part. Housing Secretary Michael Gove, who also served in Johnson’s cabinet, has confirmed he intends to abstain – becoming the only member of the Sunak government to say what he intends to do.

Speaking on Sunday, he said there were areas where Johnson’s conduct had fallen short of expectations, but he disagreed with the report’s recommendation for a 90-day suspension.

The vote is tricky politically for the prime minister, who is embroiled in a bitter war of words with his former boss over his resignation honours list.

Sunak vowed to put “integrity” at the heart of his government upon entering Downing Street, and will be under pressure from opposition MPs to approve the findings from the cross-party committee.

But voting for it would enrage Johnson’s supporters, some of whom have attacked the committee over their conclusions.

Johnson himself also lashed out at the committee in an angry statement announcing his resignation as an MP before the report’s publication, branding it a “kangaroo court”.

Commons votes are initially conducted by voice, with a division – where MPs go through the voting lobbies to record their support – only called if the Speaker thinks the result is not obvious.

Opposition MPs are expected to shout “aye” later to approve the report, but if no MP in the chamber shouts “no” then there won’t be a division, meaning the votes of individual MPs will not be recorded.

In their report, the privileges committee said Johnson had deliberately misled MPs when he assured them after the Partygate scandal emerged that lockdown rules had always been followed in No 10.

Johnson argued during the inquiry that his assurances were made in good faith, and were based on advice from officials. But the MPs found he had “personal knowledge” of rule-breaking events, and had failed to “pro-actively” investigate allegations that Covid rules had been broken during the pandemic.

They concluded he had committed multiple “contempts” of Parliament – including by attacking the committee, which they added justified the 90-day ban, which is lengthy by the standards of recent years. The report also recommends that Mr Johnson should be denied a parliamentary pass, which he would normally be entitled to as an ex-MP.

Several of Johnson’s allies have heaped criticism on the committee for its findings. Nadine Dorries, who was culture secretary in Johnson’s cabinet, said the committee had “overreached,” warning that any Tory MP voting to endorse it would be “held to account” by party members.

However, it is not clear how many of his allies are ultimately willing to turn up to register their opposition.

Gove not to vote for Johnson

Michael Gove says he will not vote for a report that found Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament over Partygate.

The housing secretary said there were areas where the ex-PM “falls short” of expectations.

But he said he disagreed with the report’s recommendation that Mr Johnson should have been suspended for 90 days if he had remained an MP.

Gove said he would abstain in a vote scheduled for Monday on the report.

Michael Gove would not vote for Johnson Partygate report. Happy for tule breakers to become tule makers and won’t vote for partygate report. Where’s your backbone Mr Gove? Definitely no integrity https://t.co/pJFX5B61Aq

— Phil Hannaford (@HannafordPhilip) June 18, 2023

Downing Street has yet to say how Prime Minister Rishi Sunak intends to vote, or even if he would take part.

On Friday, his spokesman told reporters he was still taking the time to “consider the report fully”.

It will be a free vote for Conservative MPs, meaning party managers – known as whips – will not instruct them which way to vote.

In the damning 106-page report, the seven-member Commons privileges committee, which has a Tory majority, said Johnson had deliberately misled MPs over lockdown parties in Downing Street.

He had “personal knowledge” of rule-breaking, and had “closed his mind” by not seeking assurances about compliance, it found.

It said it would have recommended a 90-day Commons suspension for Mr Johnson, partly because of his furious reaction to an advance copy of the report’s findings, including him calling the committee a “kangaroo court”.

The suspension will not apply given the former prime minister quit as an MP before the report was published.

The committee said his calling the committee a “kangaroo court” in his resignation statement had “impugned the integrity” of Parliament.

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Some MPs loyal to the former PM who sought to sway the committee’s decision are also said to be at risk of being investigated…reports Asian Lite News

Boris Johnson and his allies have been told by senior Conservatives to “shut up and go away” as the privileges committee prepares to sign off what is expected to be a damning report into his conduct.

MPs on the committee are understood to have received threats from members of the public over the weekend, following Johnson’s decision to stand down as an MP after being told they had concluded he deliberately misled parliament over Partygate.

Some MPs loyal to the former prime minister who sought to sway the committee’s decision are also said to be at risk of being investigated for a separate contempt of parliament.

Boris Johnson leaves his London home on March 23, the day after his appearance before the privileges committee that has now precipitated his downfall.

The seven-strong committee, which has a Tory majority and Labour chair, will regroup at 11am on Monday to finalise the conclusion to their year-long inquiry. They are likely to speed up the the publication of their report, with the details of their findings made public as soon as Wednesday.

While Johnson cannot be sanctioned with a suspension now he has resigned, the committee could recommend that he be refused a pass offered to ex-MPs allowing privileged access to parliament.

Such a move would be in the power of the Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, and it has been recommended before by a parliamentary watchdog. An independent expert panel proposed the sanction for former speaker John Bercow in its report on bullying which was published after he stepped down as an MP.

Guardian front page, Monday 12 June 2023: Senior Tories tell Johnson to ‘shut up and go away’ pic.twitter.com/ca1mhXdobD

— Guardian news (@guardiannews) June 11, 2023

Some of Johnson’s allies are said to have urged Tory members to write to the privileges committee in a bid to influence its conclusions. The Guardian understands several MPs have held talks on the possibility of tabling a motion with a view to holding them in contempt of parliament.

Tim Loughton, a Tory MP and former minister, said Johnson should “shut up and go away” and branded his allies a “mob”. A government source added: “The witch-hunt narrative is held by a sad rump of Boris worshippers, whose numbers are small.”

In a bid to distance Rishi Sunak from his predecessor-but-one, the energy secretary Grant Shapps said “the world has moved on” from Johnson. He suggested that Johnson was wrong to claim No 10 had promised all the MPs he nominated for peerages would be approved, saying: “Occasionally Boris wouldn’t be all over the detail.”

Shapps said MPs on the privileges committee should be allowed to “get on with their job” and played down Johnson’s potential future in the Conservative party, telling Sky News: “I’m sure he’s got many other things he wants to get on and do.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg, who was knighted in Johnson’s resignation honours, said he was hopeful about the former prime minister’s chance of a comeback. He said Sunak should remain leader until the next general election – but predicted that “at some indeterminate date in the future when Rishi’s hair has gone grey and he decides to retire,” Johnson could come back “on his charger to save the nation”.

While Sunak has made no public appearance since Johnson’s resignation, the prime minister broke his silence on Twitter to tell followers he was “focused on your priorities”. He cited progress on three of his “five pledges”..

A flurry of campaigning has already begun for the three byelections triggered by the resignation of Johnson loyalists Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams.

Unlike at previous byelections, Labour and the Liberal Democrats appear to have ditched an informal non-aggression pact in Dorries’ seat. Senior figures from both parties and activists have already flooded the area – aware of the high prize that taking a constituency with a 24,000 Tory majority would be.

Anneliese Dodds, Labour’s chair, and Shabana Mahmood, the party’s campaign coordinator, raced there over the weekend. The Lib Dems, meanwhile, said it had been “our best start to a byelection campaign in living memory” and claimed to have already canvassed more than 10,000 homes with Ed Davey appearing on Sunday and planning a return visit on Monday.

Labour came second place in the constituency with 14,000 votes at the last election, to the Lib Dems’ 8,000. A three-way fight could lead the anti-Conservative vote to splinter, making the prospect of a Tory loss less likely.

Opposition parties have already been campaigning in earnest in Johnson’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip seat, where the Tories’ majority is a relatively slim 7,000. They expect to ramp up their presence in Selby and Ainsty, which was vacated by Adams on Saturday.

Sunak was urged to call the three byelections swiftly. “It would be sensible for them to take place as quickly as possible,” said Robert Hayward, a Conservative peer and elections expert.

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