UK House of Commons Committee of Privileges inquiry - Update - MPs agree that Boris Johnson's allies tried to undermine partygate probe

I did enjoy a summary on Newsnight just now. First, Johnson and indeed the house of commons endorsed this review by the privileges committee. Second, again the make up of the committee was endorsed. Especially as the previous chair stepped down due to previous public statements about Johnson, and more especially as traditionally the chair (even if the majority is for the party in power) is led by a senior opposition member.
So it is disgusting that Johnson now calls this a kangaroo court. It is pathetic that anyone supports this challenge to democratic process. Without such open and democratic review of ministerial behaviour we have no democracy.

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Supporters of Boris Johnson have vowed to target Conservative members of the privileges committee and Tory MPs who endorse its findings for deselection, as the aftermath of the report prompted vicious internal infighting.

One of the first to condemn the report was Nadine Dorries, the former culture secretary and key Johnson ally, who has vowed to resign as an MP amid a row over whether she was wrongly denied a peerage in his honours list.

Dorries said the report was “quite bizarre”, warning Tory MPs who voted to endorse it that they would face repercussions, also singling out Jenkin for criticism.

“Any Conservative MP who would vote for this report is fundamentally not a Conservative and will be held to account by members and the public. Deselections may follow. It’s serious. MPs will now have to show this committee what real justice looks like and how it’s done.”

A shrill call to bullies and blackmailers from “Mad Nads” (1) … :091:

(1) Twitter nickname for Nadine Dorries

Hi

Those Boris supporting MPs who are threatening people with deselection should remember that they themselves will face deselection, by the great British Public.

The next Election is not far away and the \conservatives are doing a very good job of destroying themselves.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-65931415

Gove will abstain on Partygate vote tomorrow

Gove says the 90-day penalty inflicted on the former PM is “not merited” in his opinion, and he “does not agree with the conclusion”.

But he stresses “each individual member should form their own judgement” on the report that concluded Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament.

He says the committee have done good work, “it is a good report”.

Johnson did make errors and has already forfeited his position, he argues.

Looking after No 1 … :wink:

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

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. It is not yet clear whether there will be a recorded vote, as MPs could simply nod the report through. If there is a vote, it is expected to pass easily. It is likely that some Conservative MPs could abstain or not turn up to take part.

The vote is tricky politically for the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who is embroiled in a bitter war of words with his former boss over his resignation honours list. Mr 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 Mr Johnson’s supporters, some of whom have attacked the committee over their conclusions.

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.

Tory MPs will know which side their bread is buttered … and abstain … :roll_eyes:

Every vote by a labour MP will be a seat lost in the red wall from the conservatives and labour.

If Johnson, Mogg and Dorries form a new conservative party it’s over for labour and the tories. Be careful what you wish for Omah, this is as much labour destroying their party as the conservatives. Next will come footage of the Durham Party and labour MPs will have no option but to do what they accused Johnson of and resign as well.

I get the impression that most of the Conservative MPs who are against the Report or think the Recommendations were too harsh (and those who are worried about the safety of their seat if their vote on this motion is formally recorded) will not be raising objections in the House or shouting “No” to the Motion, in the hope that it gets nodded through without a formal vote.

A formal vote would make it even more difficult for the Tory Party to move on - the in-fighting and divisions within the Tory Party MPs have been pretty obvious for years and a vote like this would just underline this division even more.

Also, I think Johnson is being savvy by asking his supporters not to object and let the Motion be nodded through - the Motion is bound to be accepted anyway, so Johnson will gain nothing and he will stand to lose face if he insists on a formal vote, as it may show only a few objectors and highlight how little support Johnson had amongst the MPs, even in his own party.

One MP who has vowed to raise an objection to it in the House and vote against the motion is Bill Cash.
I read an article in The Telegraph, only published yesterday, in which he was unequivocal about it.
He has already announced his retirement from politics and will not contest the next election, so whatever the fallout is will not be his problem - he has always spoken his mind and he has never been one for sitting on the fence, anyway!
He presented some persuasive arguments against the legal and Parliamentary aspects of the Privilege Committee proceedings - for the sake of “balanced discussion”, I’ll copy the link here -( it’s behind a PayWall but some posters may be able to read it, with or without subscription.)

Reading that article by Bill Cash made me wonder whether just one MP could force a Motion to move to a formal recorded vote in the Lobbies - if the vast majority of Voices say “Aye” could it get nodded through even though there may be one or two determined objectors saying “No” ?

I’ll be interested to see what happens, from the procedural aspect of it.

From a personal point of view, I’ll be glad to see the back of Boris, but I think the Tory Party are shooting themselves in the foot with all this back-stabbing and in-fighting amongst them.

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Presumably then, if the “Ayes” have the numbers, the result will be obvious and the Speaker will not call a division.

That’s what I was presuming too, until I read that BBC article - it was the way the author worded this paragraph that made me wonder -

“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.”

It was the use of the phrase “no MP” which made me wonder - it is an odd choice of words if they just meant “an obvious minority”
Anyway, I’ll watch the Motion and see what happens tonight.

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If there are no “no’s” then, as I understand the procedure, the report will be “nodded through”.

Boris Johnson Partygate report: MPs vote to accept findings - BBC News.

When does the debate start - and end?

Timings in the House of Commons are rarely an exact science - but the debate is due to begin at 16:30 BST.

The first speakers will be Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt, who is tabling the motion on the report into Boris Johnson.

The timings of the conclusion, and potential vote, are harder to pin down.

MPs must complete a vote on the motion, then start and finish another debate - on the UK tech industry - before 22:00.

How they divide their time until then is entirely up to the MPs in the chamber.

16:21

Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt is now speaking, which means the debate on the Privileges Committee’s report into Boris Johnson has begun.

Penny Mordaunt says she will support the motion (1) to approve the Privileges Committee’s report into Boris Johnson’s conduct, following a direct question from her Labour counterpart Thangam Debbonaire.

Much of the green seating in the Commons was empty as the debate over the report into Boris Johnson began.

About 25 Tories were visible and about 37 Labour MPs and a handful from smaller parties.

Former PM Theresa May says the report is “rigorous” and she accepts its findings. She says “it’s not easy to sit and judge” someone one day, only to bump into them later in the tearoom of the House of Commons. May says she commends the committee for “painstaking work” and praises them for their “dignity in the face of slurs on their integrity”.

May confirms she will vote in favour of the report (2) and concludes by urging all members of the House to do the same to “help to restore faith in our parliamentary democracy”.

Harriet Harman, the Labour MP who chairs the Privileges Committee that investigated Boris Johnson, says misleading the House is not a technicality but a matter of great importance. “Ministers must be truthful; if not we cannot do our job,” Harman says. “It is as simple and fundamental as that,” she adds.

Harman says a second report is being prepared into MPs who attempted to “intimidate” the committee to undermine their report, which she says means they may also be in contempt of the House of Commons.

The contribution of Lia Nici, a former parliamentary aide to Boris Johnson, is met with laughter and calls of “rubbish”. She blames officials for the parties and advisers for misleading the former prime minister. (3)

(1) Good for Penny

(2) Good for Theresa

(3) Well, she would, wouldn’t she?

This would be brilliant if it happened lol, but it won’t:

Labour wants to force a vote on the Privileges Committee report into Boris Johnson today to expose Conservative divisions. But here is why doing so may land them in trouble.

MPs are today debating the Privileges Committee report into Boris Johnson which concluded he deliberately misled Parliament over Partygate.

Labour’s hope is to force a division (a vote) at the end to expose the splits within the Conservatives and identify which MPs are supporting the former Prime Minister.

However, Mr Johnson’s supporters have decided to boycott the event neither speaking in the debate nor voting at the end.

As one put it: “We don’t want to give this charade any legitimacy.”

Most other Conservative MPs are away so they do not feel obliged to vote.

This poses a problem for Labour, the SNP and Lib Dems if they want to force a vote and could, according to the rules, mean they are guilty of what it is claimed Boris Johnson was guilty of – contempt of Parliament.

Speeches have been limited to 10 minutes by Dame Eleanor Laing, the Commons deputy speaker, who says that many more MPs want to speak about the report.

As a result, we don’t know exactly what time the vote will take place, but it seems a couple of hours away at least.

It is also not clear if a recorded vote - called a division in Parliament - will take place at all, or it will go through without objection.

Who says Labour want to force a vote?

I am just watching the Parliamentary Debate on TV - I was a bit late tuning in, so Catch-Up TV has allowed me to go back to the beginning of the debate.

My first impressions are that the Tory Benches, both front and back, are very empty, so it looks like a lot of them are avoiding the vote.

My other impression is that Penny Mordaunt is doing a good job of putting the Motion forward without partisanship.

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In contrast to the calm and measured delivery of Penny Mordaunt as Leader of the House, I have just observed the awful fast-talking garbled and politically charged speech by Thangham Debbonaire, the Shadow Leader of the House.
What was she thinking? - How to lose friends and alienate people. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

How the heck do I know, I didn’t write the article.

I think the assertion is an “invention” of the Express - no Labour MP has been recorded as saying that the Party wants to force a vote.

It’s probably the same as one of those unnamed sources that The Guardian uses.

Just reached the bit in the debate where Rees-Mogg gets up on his high horse - Dear God, Will no one rid us of this pompous Parliamentarian?!
He seems to be enjoying his own detailed, smug, plum-ridden rant more than anyone else … yawn! … my eyes glazed over after just a few minutes of him speaking …. :sleeping: