Steven Swinford, Political Editor | Henry Zeffman, Associate Political Editor
Friday March 17 2023, 10.00pm, The Times
Rishi Sunak will give Conservative MPs a free vote on Boris Johnson’s future if the privileges committee finds that he deliberately misled parliament about Downing Street pandemic parties.
Almost a year after the investigation began, Johnson faces a marathon televised hearing on Wednesday afternoon in which he must convince seven MPs that he was not in contempt of the Commons when he denied claims about lockdown rulebreaking.
If the committee finds against Johnson, he may be suspended from the Commons. A suspension of more than ten days would automatically trigger a recall petition, allowing Johnson’s constituents to force a by-election.
• The seven MPs who will decide Boris Johnson’s fate
The privileges committee’s verdict would have to be approved by a vote of MPs, and Johnson’s allies are already preparing to use the moment to proclaim his innocence.
Sunak is understood to have decided that he will not whip MPs to protect his predecessor, allowing them instead to make their own decisions.
He is thought to be wary of repeating Johnson’s own approach in 2021, when he tried to overturn a 30-day suspension imposed on Owen Paterson, a former cabinet minister. “There is no way that we are going to get stuck in the hell that is Owen Paterson again,” a government source said.
Johnson is submitting his written statement rebutting the criticisms, to be published early next week. It is expected to be a legal submission highlighting unpublished WhatsApp messages as well as other evidence submitted to the inquiry that Johnson believes backs his case that he was not informed about any lockdown-breaking events.
He will lean heavily on the evidence when he makes his case at the committee on Wednesday, and has spent much of the last month locked in preparations for the hearing with his lawyers. His allies have called the committee a “stitch up” and an “organised lynching”. A spokesman for Johnson said he was confident that the privileges committee would vindicate his position.
Johnson’s evidence could last for up to five hours. His legal team, led by Lord Pannick KC, will not be allowed to answer questions on his behalf, though they may pass him notes during questioning.
The committee has been taking advice from Sir Ernest Ryder, a former senior president of tribunals, on how to approach the hearing. Although the committee compelled written evidence from 23 witnesses, asking them to provide a statement of truth equivalent to an oral statement under oath, it is not expected to hold in-person hearings with anyone except Johnson.
Sunak said in San Diego this week that he saw the investigation as “a matter for parliament and the house”, adding that is was “not right for the government to get involved”.
The decision means the Tory party may publicly split over Johnson’s future. One Conservative MP said: “If it concludes that Boris is guilty there will be a vote on the floor of the house. It’s a no-win situation. If Rishi doesn’t stop Boris from being expelled or suspended then the backstabber narrative continues. It will pose problems with those MPs and red wall voters. But at the same time, if he stops him in the blue wall there will be demands for integrity. It will reopen the splits in the party again.”
Several Conservatives said they believed Johnson would fail if he tried to overturn a suspension. One said: “I’m going to follow the committee and I’m sure most of my colleagues will too. They’ve worked under intense pressure. The report will be fair and, after all, they’re only doing it because the House asked them to.”
Another said: “In my constituents’ minds it will be a lower-key version of the same question we had to answer last year — is Boris Johnson fit for office, yes or no? Most of us still think the answer is no. And outside of the red wall, so do our constituents.”
The committee is chaired by Harriet Harman, the former deputy Labour leader, but has a Tory majority.
Conservative Post, a right-wing website that has run a campaign urging MPs to restore Johnson to Downing Street, is urging party members to email the four Tories on the committee to tell them their investigation is “reminiscent of a banana republic”.
About a fortnight ago the committee published a document detailing four ways in which they believed Johnson may have misled the Commons.
A spokesman for Johnson said: “The privileges committee will vindicate Mr Johnson’s position. Despite ten months of work, it has not produced a single piece of evidence that shows Mr Johnson knowingly misled parliament. Rather, it will be shown that the evidence supports Mr Johnson’s case.”
With respect ‘reignite Tory civil war’
Did I miss the bit when it actually stopped?
Shouldn’t he be whipping his side to vote for the recommendations of the committee? As this committee commands the respect of parliament?
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article text:
Steven Swinford, Political Editor | Henry Zeffman, Associate Political Editor
Friday March 17 2023, 10.00pm, The Times
Rishi Sunak will give Conservative MPs a free vote on Boris Johnson’s future if the privileges committee finds that he deliberately misled parliament about Downing Street pandemic parties.
Almost a year after the investigation began, Johnson faces a marathon televised hearing on Wednesday afternoon in which he must convince seven MPs that he was not in contempt of the Commons when he denied claims about lockdown rulebreaking.
If the committee finds against Johnson, he may be suspended from the Commons. A suspension of more than ten days would automatically trigger a recall petition, allowing Johnson’s constituents to force a by-election.
• The seven MPs who will decide Boris Johnson’s fate
The privileges committee’s verdict would have to be approved by a vote of MPs, and Johnson’s allies are already preparing to use the moment to proclaim his innocence.
Sunak is understood to have decided that he will not whip MPs to protect his predecessor, allowing them instead to make their own decisions.
He is thought to be wary of repeating Johnson’s own approach in 2021, when he tried to overturn a 30-day suspension imposed on Owen Paterson, a former cabinet minister. “There is no way that we are going to get stuck in the hell that is Owen Paterson again,” a government source said.
Johnson is submitting his written statement rebutting the criticisms, to be published early next week. It is expected to be a legal submission highlighting unpublished WhatsApp messages as well as other evidence submitted to the inquiry that Johnson believes backs his case that he was not informed about any lockdown-breaking events.
He will lean heavily on the evidence when he makes his case at the committee on Wednesday, and has spent much of the last month locked in preparations for the hearing with his lawyers. His allies have called the committee a “stitch up” and an “organised lynching”. A spokesman for Johnson said he was confident that the privileges committee would vindicate his position.
Johnson’s evidence could last for up to five hours. His legal team, led by Lord Pannick KC, will not be allowed to answer questions on his behalf, though they may pass him notes during questioning.
The committee has been taking advice from Sir Ernest Ryder, a former senior president of tribunals, on how to approach the hearing. Although the committee compelled written evidence from 23 witnesses, asking them to provide a statement of truth equivalent to an oral statement under oath, it is not expected to hold in-person hearings with anyone except Johnson.
Sunak said in San Diego this week that he saw the investigation as “a matter for parliament and the house”, adding that is was “not right for the government to get involved”.
The decision means the Tory party may publicly split over Johnson’s future. One Conservative MP said: “If it concludes that Boris is guilty there will be a vote on the floor of the house. It’s a no-win situation. If Rishi doesn’t stop Boris from being expelled or suspended then the backstabber narrative continues. It will pose problems with those MPs and red wall voters. But at the same time, if he stops him in the blue wall there will be demands for integrity. It will reopen the splits in the party again.”
Several Conservatives said they believed Johnson would fail if he tried to overturn a suspension. One said: “I’m going to follow the committee and I’m sure most of my colleagues will too. They’ve worked under intense pressure. The report will be fair and, after all, they’re only doing it because the House asked them to.”
Another said: “In my constituents’ minds it will be a lower-key version of the same question we had to answer last year — is Boris Johnson fit for office, yes or no? Most of us still think the answer is no. And outside of the red wall, so do our constituents.”
The committee is chaired by Harriet Harman, the former deputy Labour leader, but has a Tory majority.
Conservative Post, a right-wing website that has run a campaign urging MPs to restore Johnson to Downing Street, is urging party members to email the four Tories on the committee to tell them their investigation is “reminiscent of a banana republic”.
About a fortnight ago the committee published a document detailing four ways in which they believed Johnson may have misled the Commons.
A spokesman for Johnson said: “The privileges committee will vindicate Mr Johnson’s position. Despite ten months of work, it has not produced a single piece of evidence that shows Mr Johnson knowingly misled parliament. Rather, it will be shown that the evidence supports Mr Johnson’s case.”
With respect ‘reignite Tory civil war’
Did I miss the bit when it actually stopped?
Shouldn’t he be whipping his side to vote for the recommendations of the committee? As this committee commands the respect of parliament?
Lord Pannick. Lord… Panic.
That is *such* a supervillain name.