Rishi Sunak to give Tory MPs ‘free vote on Boris Johnson’s future,’ reports

If Mr Johnson is found to have misled Parliament and suspended for more than 10 days, he would face a recall petition in his seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip
Boris Johnson has declared a £1 million donation to his office (Leon Neal/PA)
PA Wire
Sami Quadri18 March 2023

Rishi Sunak is set to give ToryMPs a free vote on Boris Johnson’s future if the privileges committee finds he deliberately misled the Commons about the parties held in Downing Street during the pandemic, reports state.

The former Prime Minister is due to apepar at the committee in a televised hearing on Wednesday after denying claims about lockdown rulebreaking.

Mr Johnson faces suspension from the Commons if the committee finds him guilty of misleading MPs over the lockdown parties, although the sanction would need to be approved via a vote in the House.

According to The Times, the Prime Minister will not whip MPs to protect his predecessor.

“There is no way that we are going to get stuck in the hell that is Owen Paterson again,” one Government source said.

Another Tory MP added: “I’m going to follow the committee and I’m sure most of my colleagues will too. They’ve worked under intense pressure.

“The report will be fair and, after all, they’re only doing it because the House asked them to.”

The committee is made up of four Conservative MPs, two Labour and one SNP. It is chaired by former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman.

If Mr Johnson is given a suspension of 10 days or more, it would trigger a recall petition in his seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

One Tory MP, however, said the party may become publicly split over the decision, adding: “If it concludes that Boris is guilty there will be a vote on the floor of the house. It’s a no-win situation.

“If Rishi doesn’t stop Boris from being expelled or suspended then the backstabber narrative continues.

“It will pose problems with those MPs and red wall voters. But at the same time, if he stops him in the blue wall there will be demands for integrity. It will reopen the splits in the party again.”

On a visit to San Diego in the US, Mr Sunak was asked by ITV News whether he would try to influence the Tory members of the privileges committee not to impose too big a punishment on him.

Mr Sunak replied: “That wouldn’t be right. This is a matter for Parliament and the House. It’s not a matter for the Government.”

Asked whether he was concerned that a suspension could trigger a by-election, the Prime Minister said: “It’s not right for the Government to get involved.”

A spokesman for Mr Johnson said: “The privileges committee will vindicate Mr Johnson’s position.

“Despite ten months of work, it has not produced a single piece of evidence that shows Mr Johnson knowingly misled parliament. Rather, it will be shown that the evidence supports Mr Johnson’s case.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in