Thursday, June 15, 2023
No excuses for Johnson
In this world of briefing and counter-briefing, it is not often that a Parliamentary Committee report can surprise us, but the conclusions and the tone of the Privileges Committee report on Boris Johnson, certainly surpassed all our expectations.
As the Guardian says, MPs on the committee found that the former Prime Minister deliberately misled parliament over Partygate and was part of a campaign to abuse and intimidate MPs investigating him.
And, in an unprecedented move, the cross-party group, with an inbuilt Tory majority, said that the now ex-MP, would have faced a 90-day suspension from the Commons had he not quit in rage at its findings last week:
Johnson was also found to have knowingly misled the committee itself, breached Commons rules by leaking its findings last Friday, and undermined the democratic processes of parliament.
As a result, it was recommended Johnson be banned from getting the pass granted to ex-MPs that allows them privileged access to the Westminster estate.
Johnson was originally set to face a suspension from parliament of 20 days – enough to trigger a recall petition that would have probably led to a byelection. But the committee said his blistering attempts to intimidate it last Friday would have ratcheted up the punishment to 90 days.
Two MPs on the committee – one Labour and the other from the SNP – had pushed for Johnson to be expelled from parliament. But the final report and sanction was signed off unanimously by all seven members.
“For the house to be given misleading information about the conduct of ministers and officials at the highest level of government, in the midst of the grave national emergency represented by the Covid-19 pandemic … is a matter of great seriousness,” the report said.
Retaliation by Johnson in trying to paint the committee as a kangaroo court “amounts to an attack on our democratic institutions”, it added.
I am not sure that the public will be amused to hear that Johnson burned through £245,000 of public money for his legal fees in defending himself to the committee.
MPs will now have to vote on whether to accept the report's recommendations. I don't doubt that they will do so. Johnson appears to have burnt his bridges with many of his supporters in the Commons.
As the Guardian says, MPs on the committee found that the former Prime Minister deliberately misled parliament over Partygate and was part of a campaign to abuse and intimidate MPs investigating him.
And, in an unprecedented move, the cross-party group, with an inbuilt Tory majority, said that the now ex-MP, would have faced a 90-day suspension from the Commons had he not quit in rage at its findings last week:
Johnson was also found to have knowingly misled the committee itself, breached Commons rules by leaking its findings last Friday, and undermined the democratic processes of parliament.
As a result, it was recommended Johnson be banned from getting the pass granted to ex-MPs that allows them privileged access to the Westminster estate.
Johnson was originally set to face a suspension from parliament of 20 days – enough to trigger a recall petition that would have probably led to a byelection. But the committee said his blistering attempts to intimidate it last Friday would have ratcheted up the punishment to 90 days.
Two MPs on the committee – one Labour and the other from the SNP – had pushed for Johnson to be expelled from parliament. But the final report and sanction was signed off unanimously by all seven members.
“For the house to be given misleading information about the conduct of ministers and officials at the highest level of government, in the midst of the grave national emergency represented by the Covid-19 pandemic … is a matter of great seriousness,” the report said.
Retaliation by Johnson in trying to paint the committee as a kangaroo court “amounts to an attack on our democratic institutions”, it added.
I am not sure that the public will be amused to hear that Johnson burned through £245,000 of public money for his legal fees in defending himself to the committee.
MPs will now have to vote on whether to accept the report's recommendations. I don't doubt that they will do so. Johnson appears to have burnt his bridges with many of his supporters in the Commons.
Remaining questions are how many Tories will stick with their former leader, will there be consequences back in the constituencies for those Tories who support the committee's conclusions, and what will be the damage to the Tory party from the fallout?
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The clip of Guto Harri's performance on QT last night, parroting Johnson's specious attack on the Privileges Committee, cause one to wonder how he ever came to on the payroll of our independent national broadcaster
r.
r.
Guto Harri and the BBC.Is it me or is the beeb 'inviting' more Conservative leaning people on the panel. Anybody would think an election is happening in the near future and the independant? broadcaster is setting the direction.
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