U.K. lawmakers endorsed the findings of a probe that concluded former Prime Minister Boris Johnson repeatedly and deliberately misled lawmakers, and stripped him of the right to the automatic access to Parliament enjoyed by former members.
The House of Commons voted 354-7 late on Monday to approve the damning report into what Johnson had told lawmakers about the “Partygate” scandal — a series of pandemic-era gatherings in Westminster that broke the COVID-19 rules the government itself had imposed.
The motion was awkward for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who faced balancing the competing demands of avoiding inflaming an internal Conservative Party row and reinforcing his pledge to restore integrity to government. In the event, he sidestepped the debate, drawing claims of weakness from the opposition Labour Party.
Sunak’s spokesman, Max Blain told reporters earlier that the premier had a number of commitments, including a meeting with his Swedish counterpart and a dinner.
The vote came after five hours of debate on the report by the majority-Conservative Privileges Committee, which found Johnson committed a “serious contempt” of Parliament and recommended he no longer be entitled to a Parliamentary pass. They also said they would have recommended a 90-day suspension from the Commons for Johnson had he remained a member.
Sunak’s stance meant he averted fanning tensions with Johnson backers who already blame him for his role in his predecessor’s downfall last year.
But senior Conservatives including former Prime Minister Theresa May, Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt, and father of the house Peter Bottomley, the longest-serving MP, all said they backed the committee’s findings.
The report and Monday’s debate struck “at the heart of the bond of trust and respect between the public and parliament,” May told the Commons. “Without that trust and respect, their faith in our very parliamentary democracy is damaged,” she said.
Johnson, who turned 59 on Monday, stood down earlier this month as an MP in protest at the committee’s findings, and so was not able to speak in the debate.
Tory defenders of the former premier included his former parliamentary private secretary, Lia Nici, who said Johnson “did not knowingly or intentionally mislead this house,” and former Tory Chairman Jake Berry, who said Johnson should be held responsible for what he said, rather than “what people thought he may have meant.”
Depriving Johnson of his pass is partly symbolic, because he will still be able to attend Parliament as the guest of another passholder, and would be granted access if he ever becomes an MP again. However, it is an unprecedented ignominy for a former prime minister.
Sunak did not direct his MPs to vote one way or the other. Many Conservative lawmakers abstained, fearing a backlash from party members and voters who remain loyal to the former prime minister.
When he became premier last October, Sunak pledged to bring “integrity and accountability” to politics following the fallout from the premierships of Johnson and Liz Truss. By ducking the debate, he will allow his opponents to accuse him of putting party ahead of country.
Both Johnson and Sunak were fined by the police for their involvement in one of the Partygate gatherings, and the scandal still casts a long shadow over the government and the ruling Tories.
Over the weekend, the Mirror published fresh footage of one of the events police investigated, showing a man and a woman dancing, while off-camera, someone comments “as long as we don’t stream that we’re like, bending the rules.” London Police on Monday said in a statement that they’re “assessing” the footage, having only seen a photo during their prior probe.
“We can all see the colorful nature of the video and how much it tells a story way beyond the original photo,” Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley told the News Agents podcast. “I need to let a team work through that but I think we can all guess which way it will go.”
The Conservative Party’s poll lead, forged on the back of the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out, crumbled under the weight of scandal as public trust in Johnson and his ministers collapsed.
The melodrama over Johnson has dogged Sunak for over a week, with the Tories now being forced to defend a series of by-elections late in an electoral cycle, ahead of a general election expected next year.
