‘Painful’: MPs to vote on Boris Johnson report on his birthday
MPs are set to vote on the Privileges Committee report which found Boris Johnson “deliberately misled” Parliament on the former prime minister’s birthday.
A free vote is expected to be held in the House of Commons on Monday (19 June) – the former PM’s 59th birthday.
It is also the third anniversary of the illegal lockdown gathering which saw him fined by the Met Police after reportedly being “ambushed by a cake”.
Leader of the Commons Penny Mordaunt told MPs the motion on whether to accept the findings of the committee would take place next week.
MPs will vote on whether Johnson should retain his Parliamentary pass, granting him privileged access to the estate as a former member.
‘Free vote’
A sanction calling for him to undergo a 90-day suspension no longer applies after Johnson quit as Conservative MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip in anticipation of the report last Friday.
Morduant said the vote will be “voteable, it will be amendable and it is House business and so I am expecting a free vote”.
She added in the Commons: “These are difficult matters for the House, we have to look at the evidence, we have to look at the report, but we’re talking about people who are friends and colleagues, it will be a painful process and a sad process for all of us, the task that we face on Monday.
“But all of us must do what we think is right and others must leave us alone to do so.”
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner backed the committee’s findings, saying: “I hope we get that vote on Monday and it goes through because people need to have faith in our democracy and faith in our processes – and this is the right thing to do.”
‘Utter tragedy’
She told the BBC: “The Privileges Committee have done their work without fear or favour, despite Boris Johnson now trying to cast doubt.”
Johnson ally and former culture secretary Nadine Dorries tweeted: “This report has overreached and revealed its true predetermined intentions. It’s quite bizarre.”
The Mid Bedfordshire MP, who has said she will resign, added: “Any Conservative MP who would vote for this report is fundamentally not a Conservative and will be held to account by members and the public. Deselections may follow. It’s serious.”
While a spokesperson for the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK group, said: “It’s an utter tragedy that Johnson was in charge when the pandemic struck and he should never be allowed to stand for any form of public office again.
“His fall from grace must serve as a lesson to other politicians to act with honesty and to serve the public as a whole – that is the only positive that can come from this.”