Huge majority of MPs votes to approve Boris Johnson Partygate report
MPs voted to approve the report by 354 votes to seven.
The House of Commons has voted to back a report saying Boris Johnson misled MPs over parties held during lockdown at Downing Street.
MPs voted in favour of the report, which was written up by the Privileges Committee, by 354 votes to seven.
It recommended the former prime minister be suspended from the house for 90 days, which would have triggered a by-election in Mr Johnson’s constituency.
However, he escaped that significant consequence by resigning his seat last week in a furious letter which described the committee as a ‘kangaroo court’.
His letter also suggested he intended to make a political comeback in the future – but the margin of this evening’s vote suggests there are few still willing to support him even among his former Conservative colleagues.
The vote came after hours of debate over the report in the House of Commons, during which vanishingly few Tory MPs came to their former leader’s defence.
Among the many who stood up to endorse the report’s findings was another ex-PM, Theresa May, who said a vote in favour would be ‘a small but important step in restoring people’s trust’ in Parliament.
In a veiled swipe at Rishi Sunak’s absence from the chamber, she urged her party to ‘show we are prepared to act when one of our own, however senior, is found wanting’.
While it is unclear why Mr Sunak did not attend the vote in the evening, he hosted Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson at Number 10 earlier today.
Mrs May added: ‘This committee report matters. This debate matters. And this vote matters.
‘They matter because they strike at the heart of the bond of trust and respect between the public and Parliament that underpin the workings of this place and of our democracy.’
During this evening’s debate, Conservative MP for Guildford Angela Richardson said she ‘deplored’ the attacks on members of the privileges committee, describing their work as ‘thankless’ and adding: ‘There is no need to make it potentially dangerous, too.’
She said Harriet Harman, the Labour chair of the committee who was singled out for condemnation in Mr Johnson’s resignation letter, as ‘an exceptional parliamentarian’.
The seven Conservative MPs who voted to oppose the report were Sir Bill Cash, Nick Fletcher, Adam Holloway, Karl McCartney, Joy Morrissey and Heather Wheeler.
A number of Johnson allies also boycotted the vote.
Mr Johnson may have escaped the potential humiliation of a by-election loss in his seat, but he now also faces losing his Westminster pass.
The pass allows unlimited access to the Parliament building, and its revocation would mean the former PM would only be able to visit alongside members of the public.
The broader controversy over parties held during lockdown also shows no sign of waning, following the emergence of a video showing Conservative aides dancing at a Christmas do in December 2020.
Earlier today, Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley suggested that further action will be taken against Tory aides seen in a Christmas party held during the pandemic.
He told the News Agents Podcast: ‘As people know, that case has been previously looked at based on a photo.
‘It’s very obvious a video tells a much richer, clearer story than a photo.
‘And so, the team are looking at that with a view to whether that provides a basis for further investigation.’
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