Westminster is salivating in expectation of electrifying theatre. “It will be mandatory viewing,” says one former cabinet minister. “We will all be watching.” Just after lunchtime this Wednesday, Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson will be in the dock for contempt of parliament, a charge which could result in his expulsion from it. He will have to answer to multiple counts of lying to the Commons about Partygate when he faces televised interrogation by the seven MPs of the privileges committee.
There will be a lot at stake at what is expected to be a marathon inquisition. The bereaved families of Covid casualties and everyone else outraged by this scandal have had a long wait for the moment when Mr Johnson is finally held to official account for the deceptions he deployed to try to cover up Partygate. A guilty verdict from the committee will resonate around the world because it is highly likely to lead to his eviction from the Commons. That would be a first for this country. No ex-prime minister has ever been expunged from parliament in that way. It would also surely mean the extinction of his ambitions to return to Number 10. As importantly, if not more so, this is a fundamental test of whether parliament is capable of protecting its integrity and our democracy from abuses of power by deceivers like him.
