MPs have overwhelmingly backed a damning report that found Boris Johnson lied to Parliament over Partygate.
Just seven MPs voted against the Privileges Committee's findings, in a humiliating turn of events which saw the disgraced ex-Prime Minister's colleagues turn on their former leader. With 354 votes in favour, MPs endorsed sanctions against Mr Johnson recommended by the committee, including banning him from having a pass to access Parliament, which is usually available to former MPs.
The Tory-majority panel also concluded that Mr Johnson should have faced a 90-day suspension for misleading the House when he told the Commons that Covid rules were obeyed in No 10 despite parties taking place. Mr Sunak was accused of "a cowardly cop-out" for refusing to take part in the vote, but had insisted he did not want to "influence" how MPs might vote.
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Mr Johnson was censured in his absence, having quit as an MP and labelled the inquiry a "kangaroo court" after being told in advance of its findings.
Branding him the first former prime minister to have lied to the Commons, the Privileges Committee found Mr Johnson committed "repeated contempts" of Parliament by deliberately misleading MPs with his partygate denials before being complicit in a campaign of abuse and intimidation.
The former prime minister had urged his allies not to oppose the report, arguing that the sanctions have no practical effect, although critics said it was a move designed to avoid revealing the low level of remaining support for him among Tory MPs.
The vote followed several hours of debate, during which Tory and opposition MPs delivered a series of blistering speeches in which Mr Johnson was criticised as a "man child who won't see that he only has himself to blame" and defended as "a human too". Mr Johnson was reportedly speaking at an event for the International Democratic Union in London as the debate took place.
Conservative former prime minister Theresa May said backing the Privileges Committee's conclusions would be "a small but important step in restoring people's trust" in Parliament. She urged her party to "show that we are prepared to act when one of our own, however senior, is found wanting".
After the vote, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: "Tonight Rishi Sunak committed a cowardly cop-out. His failure to vote says all you need to know about this Prime Minister's lack of leadership. Sunak promised integrity yet when push came to shove, he was too weak to even turn up.
"The British public doesn't yet have the opportunity to tell Sunak and his sleaze-ridden Conservative Government what they think of them but the people of Somerset and Bedfordshire definitely do."
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