A Cabinet member suggested tonight that Tory MPs participating in a “witchhunt” probe of Boris Johnson over Partygate should resign from the inquiry panel.
Today, the Prime Minister’s allies criticised the Commons privileges committee’s “kangaroo court” investigation into whether Mr. Johnson deceived Parliament.
Before the committee had started working, they claimed that its mandate had been “rewritten to promote a guilty judgement.”
The four Conservative MPs on the committee were encouraged by Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries tonight to “have no role in this Machiavellian process” and resign from the investigation immediately.
Due to the inquiry’s wide grounds of reference, the PM may be held in contempt even if he did not willfully lie to the Commons about lockdown-busting Downing Street events.
And even though Mr. Johnson had left No. 10, he might lose his seat in the House of Commons if the committee of seven votes against him.
If this witch-hunt continues, it will be the most flagrant misuse of authority ever seen in Westminster, Mrs. Dorries told the Daily Mail.
It will seriously undermine not just the standing of certain MPs serving on the committee, but also Parliament and democracy in general.
It would be the legislative equivalent of a kangaroo court and create a precedent that, by itself, would come back to haunt every politician and prime leader in the future, regardless of party. To enable a guilty finding before the investigation has even started, the parameters of reference have been changed.
The MPs on this committee would be going beyond the bounds of fairness and into a murky realm of artificial justice. We are the legislators.
Each Conservative member should act honourably, refuse to take part in this Machiavellian process, expose it for what it is, and resign from the committee right now.
Lord Goldsmith, who Mr. Johnson elevated to the rank of Conservative lord in 2019, slammed the committee’s ‘very political, angry, and vicious’ MPs. Sir Bernard Jenkin, Laura Farris, Alberto Costa, and Andy Carter, the committee’s four tory members, have all criticised the prime minister for his lockdown violations.
Tonight, nobody wanted to respond to the request that they resign from the committee.
The Prime Minister’s supporter, a senior Tory MP, however, said that they were all feeling the strain and that some would resign to make room for more seasoned politicians who would be seen as more neutral.
Even though she called the Prime Minister “unspeakable” and “disgraceful” for breaching Covid guidelines, Harriet Harman is the head of the cross-party committee that will begin looking into Mr. Johnson next month.
The other members are Allan Dorans of the SNP and Yvonne Fovargue, a former shadow minister for Labour.
“The Partygate inquiry is definitely skewed,” claimed Lord Goldsmith. It is a jury made up of very political, spiteful, and vindictive MPs, almost all of whom have previously been seen on camera launching savage attacks on the defendant. It is a heinous misuse of authority.
MPs will then be required to vote on the committee’s findings and any punishments.
The committee will determine on the basis of the preponderance of the evidence whether Mr. Johnson’s actions “amount to a contempt of the House.”
It was generally believed that the investigation would need to demonstrate that Mr. Johnson had lied or purposefully deceived the Commons.
However, the committee said last month that by concluding that his intents are superfluous, it had reduced the standard.
“Labour want a by-election to completely remove Boris, and the privileges committee have modified the rules to enable that,” claimed Tory MP Michael Fabricant. A stitch-up and a disgrace.
I have no doubt that there are MPs who would want to see the PM weakened, said Marco Longhi, the Tory representative for Dudley North and a supporter of Mr. Johnson, last night. I don’t belong among them.
It is essential that every member who participates in such choices may be considered to have done impartially and without bias, given my experience as an elected member making decisions about planning, standards, or nominations.
Sally Ann-Hart, a coworker of his, stated, “Boris Johnson has already quit; the entire process is a witch-hunt.”
Liz Truss, a front-runner for the leadership, declined to say last week if she would remove Mr. Johnson’s Tory whip if it were discovered that he had lied to MPs, saying she would not make any “prejudgments” but reiterating her belief that he “didn’t mislead Parliament.”
The House of Commons as a whole passed a resolution to nominate Harriet Harman to the committee, according to a spokeswoman for the privileges committee.
The committee’s other six members—who are all from the Government party—then unanimously chose Harriet Harman to serve as chairperson.