Authority of Boris Johnson damaged as own MPs say
‘gig’s up’
William Wragg, Tory chair of Commons’ constitutional
affairs committee, states ‘no confidence’ in PM
Jessica
Elgot and Heather Stewart in Ahmadebad
Thu 21 Apr
2022 19.59 BST
Boris
Johnson suffered humiliating blows to his authority after MPs backed a formal
investigation to look at whether he lied to parliament, and senior party
figures made new calls for him to resign.
The prime
minister will now be investigated by a Commons committee over claims he misled
MPs about lockdown parties – a potential resigning matter under the ministerial
code.
The move
came after the government tried to delay the inquiry only to make a U-turn
hours later amid a backlash.
Speaking
during a Commons debate after chaotic scenes in Westminster, the former Brexit
minister Steve Baker, an influential figure among Conservatives, said he was
appalled by Johnson’s private attitude towards the fine he had received for
breaches of Covid rules and said the prime minister “now should be long gone”.
Others made
clear that they had told Tory whips they would not block or delay a new
Partygate inquiry.
The
Guardian can reveal that the former health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, told
constituents he had warned whips he would not support moves to delay the
inquiry.
Hunt said
in an email to constituents that he found the fines issued to Johnson and the
chancellor, Rishi Sunak, “shocking and disappointing”. “We will also now see
the privileges committee investigate whether parliament was lied to,” he wrote.
“I made it clear to the government that I would not have supported any move to
delay such an investigation had we been asked to. But in the end thankfully, we
were not.”
He said he
would not make a final judgment until the end of the process but did not
believe now was the “best time” to change prime minister. While other prime
ministers had been removed in wartime, “in this situation we only have to ask
ourselves, would Vladimir Putin be happy to see a two-month leadership contest
in Britain?” Hunt added.
The
turbulence in Westminster threatened to overshadow the prime minister’s trade
trip to India, where he toured Ahmedabad as MPs debated his political future
for four hours on the floor of the Commons.
Minutes
before the debate about whether to refer Johnson to the privileges committee,
government whips pulled their amendment – tabled on Wednesday evening – that
would have delayed any vote on the investigation until after the final Sue Gray
Partygate report was published.
The Labour
motion was passed on Thursday although the privileges committee investigation
will not begin for weeks or months, once the police and Gray inquiries are
complete.
Johnson’s
press secretary, speaking during a trip to India, sought to suggest the prime
minister was relaxed about being referred to the privileges committee, with “no
concerns”.
At the
Commons debate, William Wragg, chair of the Commons’ constitutional affairs
committee, said he had written a letter of no confidence in the prime minister
and that he would have rebelled if the government had not withdrawn its
amendment.
He said:
“We have been working in a toxic atmosphere. The parliamentary party bears the
scars of misjudgments of leadership. There can be few colleagues on this side
of the house, I would contend, who are truly enjoying being members of
parliament at the moment. It is utterly depressing to be asked to defend the
indefensible. Each time part of us withers.”
Steve Baker
had previously told the Commons he had been prepared to forgive Johnson but
said that the PM’s bullish approach to the fines, in a private meeting of the
1922 meeting of backbenchers this week, had changed his mind. He said Johnson’s
contrition “only lasted as long as it took to get out of the headmaster’s
study”.
Baker
added: “I have to say I’m sorry, that for not obeying the letter and spirit –
and I think we have heard that the prime minister did know what the letter was
– the prime minister now should be long gone. I’ll certainly vote for this
motion. But really, the prime minister should just know the gig’s up.”
Bob Neill,
who chairs the justice committee, stopped short of calling for Johnson to go
but said he had planned to abstain on the Labour motion.
“I am profoundly
disappointed in what happened at No 10. People were badly let down, my
constituents feel badly let down, I feel personally badly let down and there
must be consequences that follow from that,” he said.
The
Conservative MP Anthony Mangnall said he could not forgive Johnson for
misleading the Commons. “I do forgive the prime minister for making those
mistakes but I do not forgive him for misleading the house, as I see it.”
Tobias
Ellwood, the Tory chair of the Commons defence committee, who has already
called for the prime minister to go, tweeted that it was time for his
colleagues “to stop drinking the Kool Aid”.
Opening the
debate, the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, said it was imperative for MPs to
judge if Johnson had deliberately misled them with his denials of Partygate
lockdown breaches in Downing Street.
Starmer
said: “He has stood before this house and said things that are not true, safe
in the knowledge that he will not be accused of lying. He has stood at that
dispatch box and point blank denied rule-breaking took place, when it did.
“As he did
so, he was hoping to gain extra protection from our assumption, and from the
public assumption, that no prime minister would deliberately mislead the house.
He has used our good faith to cover up his misdeeds.”
Speaking to
reporters on his trade visit to India, Johnson said he had reversed his
position on the amendment because he had “nothing to hide” but appeared
irritated at Labour’s determination to continue pressing the issue.
“People
were saying it looks like we are trying to stop stuff. I didn’t want that. I
didn’t want people to be able to say that. I don’t want this thing to endlessly
go on,” he told Sky News. “But, I have absolutely nothing, frankly, to hide. If
that is what the opposition want to talk about, that is fine.”
Asked about
Baker’s call for him to resign, Johnson said: “I understand people’s feelings.
I don’t think that is the right thing to do.” He conceded the situation was
serious, however.
On
Wednesday Tory whips had scrambled to find a way to block or delay the inquiry
by the privileges committee. But MPs had privately and publicly asked whips not
to give Labour the opportunity to paint them as taking part in a cover-up.
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