It is "absolutely certain" that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will have to resign if it is found he misled the House of Commons, according to the chair of Parliament's privileges committee. Labour MP Chris Bryant made the comment after the publication of Sue Gray's report, which revealed drunken parties at 10 Downing Street during the Covid lockdowns.
Mr Johnson, who has said he will not resign as Prime Minister, is now facing an inquiry by the Commons privileges committee into whether he knowingly misled when he repeatedly told Parliament there were no parties. Mr Bryant, who has stepped aside from the inquiry because of his own public criticisms of the Prime Minister, said the committee could trigger a recall ballot in Mr Johnson’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency by recommending his suspension from the Commons.
He told Sky News: "They can force him to quit. I'm absolutely certain that if the privileges committee decides that the Prime Minister has misled Parliament and sends a report to the House to that effect, Boris Johnson may still try to cling on, but I would have thought that at that point every self-respecting member of the House of Commons would vote for whatever suspension is recommended by the committee.
"And if he's suspended from the House, he's out. That's it."
Mr Bryant said the committee could take as long as four months to reach its conclusions. He added: "There are four Conservative members on the privileges committee and I respect them.
"I have absolutely no questions about them. They will all want to do a very proper job.
"And if that committee - which has a Conservative majority on it - comes to the conclusion that the Prime Minister has lied to Parliament, I'm absolutely certain that the Prime Minister will leave office, and probably leave Parliament." A recall petition can be triggered if the Commons votes for the suspension of an MP on the recommendation of the House's privileges committee.
A re-run election will be held if the petition is signed by more than 10% of constituents - around 7,000 people in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. The suspended MP is allowed to stand in the election to try to hold on to the seat.
Mr Bryant added: "I think there's quite a lot of people in the Labour Party who have now decided that actually for the Labour Party, and for the next General Election, let's keep Boris Johnson. I think a lot of voters in the country have made their mind up about a Conservative Party that keeps Boris Johnson - the culprit and the liar - as their leader.
"Two Conservatives I bumped into in the lift yesterday on the way to a vote said to me 'look, we've lost the next General Election because Tory colleagues won't act against him, even though they've seen it plain as a pikestaff'."
