MPs have voted overwhelmingly to back a damning report that found Boris Johnson lied to the British parliament with his Partygate denials, as prime minister Rishi Sunak stayed away from proceedings.
Just seven MPs voted against the privileges committee’s findings on Monday night, in a humiliating turn of events for the former prime minister less than a year after he left No 10.
With 354 votes in favour, MPs endorsed sanctions against Mr Johnson recommended by the committee, including banning him from having a pass to access parliament, which is usually available to former MPs.
The Tory-majority panel also concluded that Mr Johnson should have faced a 90-day suspension for misleading the House of Commons when he told parliament that Covid rules were obeyed in No 10 despite parties taking place.
Mr Sunak was accused of “a cowardly cop-out” for refusing to take part in the vote, but had insisted he did not want to “influence” how MPs might vote.
Mr Johnson was censured in his absence, having quit as an MP and labelled the inquiry a “kangaroo court” after being told in advance of its findings.
Branding him the first former prime minister to have lied to the Commons, the privileges committee found Mr Johnson committed “repeated contempts” of parliament by deliberately misleading MPs with his Partygate denials before being complicit in a campaign of abuse and intimidation.
The former prime minister had urged his allies not to oppose the report, arguing that the sanctions have no practical effect, although critics said it was a move designed to avoid revealing the low level of remaining support for him among Tory MPs.
The vote followed several hours of debate, during which Tory and opposition MPs delivered a series of blistering speeches in which Mr Johnson was criticised as a “manchild who won’t see that he only has himself to blame”.
As the debate went on, Mr Johnson, who turned 59 on Monday, was reportedly speaking at an event for the International Democratic Union in London.
Veiled swipe
Conservative former prime minister Theresa May said backing the committee’s conclusions would be “a small but important step in restoring people’s trust” in parliament.
In a veiled swipe at Mr Sunak’s absence from the chamber, she urged her party to “show that we are prepared to act when one of our own, however senior, is found wanting”.
After the vote, Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said: “Tonight Rishi Sunak committed a cowardly cop-out. His failure to vote says all you need to know about this prime minister’s lack of leadership.
“Sunak promised integrity yet when push came to shove, he was too weak to even turn up.
“The British public doesn’t yet have the opportunity to tell Sunak and his sleaze-ridden Conservative government what they think of them but the people of Somerset and Bedfordshire definitely do.” - PA