Rishi Sunak says he won’t order Tory MPs to back Boris Johnson over Partygate ‘witch hunt’ as ex-PM’s defence is set to be published TODAY
- Boris Johnson facing four-hour showdown with Privileges Committee tomorrow
Tension is building today ahead of Boris Johnson‘s Partygate showdown with MPs – as the ex-PM’s bombshell defence is set to be released.
Mr Johnson is bracing to give hours of evidence to the cross-party Privileges Committee tomorrow as it considers whether he misled the Commons about lockdown-breaching events in Downing Street.
He has submitted a 50-page dossier putting his case – thought to insist he was assured by aides that rules had not been broken.
Allies have been condemning the process as a ‘kangaroo court’, arguing that Labour chair Harriet Harman has already made her views clear and not all evidence is being made public.
However, Rishi Sunak made clear this morning that he will not order Tories to line up behind Mr Johnson should the committee find he misled the House.
Tension is building today ahead of Boris Johnson’s (pictured jogging this morning) Partygate showdown with MPs – as the ex-PM’s bombshell defence is set to be released
Allies have been condemning the process as a ‘kangaroo court’, arguing that Labour chair Harriet Harman (pictured) has already made her views clear and not all evidence is being made public
In an interview with BBC Breakfast, Mr Sunak indicated that if Mr Johnson’s case comes before the Commons he will follow the convention that it is a free vote.
‘These are matters for Parliament and the House and MPs as individuals, rather than for Government. So that is the general process that we will follow,’ he said.
Asked whether he agreed with the portrayal of the inquiry as a witch hunt, Mr Sunak said: ‘That’s ultimately something for Boris Johnson and he’ll have the committee process to go through and that’s a matter for Parliament. That’s not what I’m focused on.’
Mr Johnson’s team says the Commons Privileges Committee – which has a Tory majority with four members – has received ‘thousands of documents’ supporting his claim that he did not deliberately mislead Parliament.
Dozens of witnesses are said to have told the committee they also believed the notorious gatherings were within the rules.
The MPs have already published a 23-page summary of the issues they want to raise with Mr Johnson, including his communications with aides and why he made statements in Parliament insisting there had been no rule breaches in Downing Street.
The PM and Rishi Sunak were both eventually fined for a single lockdown breach – in relation to a birthday party for the then-premier – after investigations by civil servant Sue Gray and Scotland Yard. However, Mr Johnson was not fined for any of the other events.
Ms Gray has since been recruited as Keir Starmer’s new chief of staff, although she is awaiting clearance from the appointments watchdog before accepting.
The Privileges Committee is holding an unprecedented investigation into whether Mr Johnson misled Parliament when he told MPs that ‘all guidance was followed’ in No 10.
It has suggested he could be punished if he did so ‘recklessly’, rather than the normal threshold of deliberately.
The committee could potentially recommend a lengthy suspension that could trigger a by-election in his Uxbridge & South Ruislip.
Allies of the former PM fear the inquiry, led by Labour’s former deputy leader Harriet Harman, has become a ‘witch hunt’.
In an interim report this month, the committee said it should have been ‘obvious’ to him at the time that lockdown rules were not being observed.
Rishi Sunak made clear this morning that he will not order Tories to line up behind Mr Johnson should the committee find he misled the House
It published messages from No 10 aides, including one suggesting it was hard to explain how a Cabinet Room gathering to mark Mr Johnson’s birthday was within the rules.
And the inquiry was granted access by No10 to a vast cache of internal documents.
But the document produced by Mr Johnson’s team suggests many messages showing him in a more favourable light have been suppressed.
The leaked briefing states evidence will show he was given ‘direct assurances by his advisers, before statements in the House, that the rules were followed’.
It also says: ‘The Privileges Committee evidence shows that dozens of witnesses said they believed the same thing as Boris Johnson – that the regulations were being followed and that any events he attended were work events.
‘There is no evidence in thousands of documents obtained by the committee that anyone in No 10 ever said they thought the rules or guidance had been broken at the time, or that his statements to Parliament were untrue.’
