Experienced Tory MPs with a “neutral” attitude towards Boris Johnson are looking to sit in committee to assess whether he has misled Parliament for Partygate, amid fears that his current membership is too much in line with the government.
Johnson is facing an investigation by the Privileges Committee into whether he lied to the City Council when he said he did not know about the Downing Street parties during the blockade.
The current membership of seven – four Tories, two Labor and one SNP – was thought to carry out the investigation. However, two of the Tories are government aides, and Labor chairman Chris Bryant has resigned from the investigation because he has already said he believes Johnson should leave.
With enormous pressure on MPs conducting the investigation, the Tories agreed that the investigation should be carried out by parliamentarians who are not on government salaries and are experienced enough not to seek preference from number 10. Parliamentary rules state that assistant ministers do not they should be allowed to sit in committees, but this has been ignored in recent years.
Some of the top Tories being discussed include former Attorney General Sir Jeffrey Cox, former Justice Minister Sir Robert Buckland, a former member of the committee, former Secretary of Culture Maria Miller and Jeremy Wright, another former Attorney General. Labor has said Harriet Harman, a former deputy leader, was wiretapped.
Sir Bernard Jenkin, the current senior member of the commission, may remain in the body. However, Laura Faris and Alberto Costa, two government aides, will be removed.
However, Tory MPs, in particular, are reluctant to sit on the committee given the sensitivity and impact of their decision, which could lead to Johnson’s resignation if he is found to have deliberately misled the House of Commons.
There is also a problem with finding candidates for the commission who have not expressed an opinion on the Prime Minister’s behavior over Partygate. Wright, for example, has publicly expressed the view that Johnson should leave if he has knowingly violated the law and therefore misled municipalities, and recently said he could “see how a mistake can be forgiven, even when it is made by Prime Minister”.
The Privileges Committee will have a conservative majority with candidates elected by the party authorities. However, membership will have to be approved by the House of Commons, so elected deputies will have to enjoy the trust of a wide range of Tory supporters – including critics of the prime minister.
A source familiar with the process said Tory lawmakers were trying to avoid having to sue the prime minister, knowing it was a “poisonous pot”.
The commission will not begin examining evidence against Johnson until the completion of investigations by the Metropolitan Police for violating the blockade at number 10 and Whitehall – which have already led to a fine for the prime minister – and a report by Whitehall by civil servant Sue Gray, which will be published after the conclusion of the Met case.
Some conservatives have expressed skepticism that the commission is likely to report before the fall or even before the end of the year – given the length of time Met has to complete its investigation.
Bryant told the BBC he believed Johnson would be forced to leave by the end of May, but number 10 said he had no plans to resign if he received more fines from the Metropolitan or if he was criticized in Gray’s report.
In an exchange with Keir Starmer in January, the prime minister acknowledged that it was a precedent for ministers to resign if they were found to have misled parliament.
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