Boris Johnson’s allies have avoided being punished over the parliamentary Partygate inquiry after MPs endorsed a report that found they sought to interfere in the process but an attempt to make them face further action failed.
Penny Mordaunt, the House of Commons leader, said she hoped the move would “be the end of this sorry affair” after a testy debate that was the culmination of 15 months of Conservative infighting.
But despite the government’s attempt to move on from the saga, Johnson’s allies continued to deny any wrongdoing.
Former cabinet ministers such as Jacob Rees-Mogg said “it was legitimate and it is legitimate” to question the impartiality of the Labour MP Harriet Harman, who chaired the investigation that concluded that Johnson deliberately misled parliament.
In a combative debate, Johnson’s allies huddled on one side of the government benches with Tory members of the committee and their own supporters grouped together on the other.
MPs heard how agitating by Johnson’s followers had forced the parliamentary security services to urgently reassess committee members’ safety at their constituency offices, homes and events.
Harman, who at one point was teary-eyed when a Tory MP came to her defence by reminding colleagues she had lost her husband 14 weeks before taking on the job, spoke of how it had felt like “open season” for attacks on the committee.
Harriet Harman appears teary-eyed as Tory MP @Laura__Farris pays tribute to her work and reminds the Commons she took up the role of privileges committee chair not long after her husband died. pic.twitter.com/BiXVgZLkI8
— Aubrey Allegretti (@breeallegretti) July 10, 2023
Despite the bloodletting on both sides lasting for three hours, the debate marked what appeared to be the end of formal parliamentary proceedings against Johnson and his supporters.
MPs endorsed a report that found the former prime minister committed five contempts of parliament – including misleading the Commons – last month. On Monday they debated a supplementary report by the privileges committee that criticised a “sustained” and “coordinated” attempt to undermine its work, naming seven Tory MPs and three peers. A motion that endorsed the second report and banned MPs from interfering in further such investigations was passed without any dissenting voices.
An attempt by the Liberal Democrats to prolong the political pain for Sunak by referring the seven MPs to the privileges committee for a new investigation was unsuccessful after the amendment was not selected by Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker.
In her opening speech, Mordaunt said the row was “entirely unprecedented”. “I hope colleagues who have been named will reflect on their actions,” she said of Rees-Mogg, Priti Patel, Nadine Dorries, Mark Jenkinson, Michael Fabricant, Brendan Clarke-Smith and Andrea Jenkyns.
The Commons leader revealed that one MP named in the report had “taken the time to speak with regret to some other members of that committee” and urged others to “acknowledge that obligation we have to one another as colleagues”. She added: “I live in hope that today will be the end of this sorry affair.”
Labour sought to use the issue to claim that Sunak’s government was mired in sleaze. Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow Commons leader, said many had thought “standards in public life had hit rock bottom” over Partygate but that the “shameful” action by Johnson’s allies had damaged public trust in parliament “further still”.
Harman was in the chamber to make a rare public comment on the process, and defended the move to censure seven of Johnson’s allies. She said it was important for MPs not to “try to wreck the process” in further such investigations.
When some of those named in the report argued their comments had been taken out of context or were not a criticism of the inquiry, Harman shot back at them that she took their indignation to mean they did not believe the committee was a “kangaroo court”.
There was little sign of contrition from Johnson’s allies. Rees-Mogg said there was no evidence that some MPs’ criticism was coordinated and argued “I don’t think [Harman] was wise” to serve as chair after sending three tweets about Johnson’s conduct.
Patel took issue with being named in the report without being given any notice or a chance to respond, saying some comments had been taken out of context. She added that the contents of the special report being reported first in the Guardian before its formal publication could also merit a further investigation.
There are further headaches over Partygate still facing Sunak. The Metropolitan police announced last week it was investigating potential Covid breaches “at a ‘jingle and mingle’ lockdown party at Conservative headquarters”. Scotland Yard is also looking into an event in parliament that the Tory MP Bernard Jenkin, who sits on the privileges committee, is said to have attended. Both took place in December 2020.
