Rishi Sunak – latest: Tory civil war deepens as Goldsmith hits back over claim he refused to apologise
Tory peer hits out at Sunak government’s ‘apathy’ – day after Downing Street faced down calls to fire him
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox
Get our free View from Westminster email
The Tory civil war has grown more fractious as Zac Goldsmith hit out at “misleading” No 10 briefing over his scathing resignation, insisting that Rishi Sunak was “wrong” to claim he had refused to apologise over his Partygate comments.
The outgoing environment minister claimed he was “happy to apologise” for remarks labelled “disturbing” by the privileges committee in their report alleging “interference” from 10 Tories during their investigation which found that Boris Johnson repeatedly lied to parliament.
As he sought to get back on the front foot at a No 10 briefing outlining his plans for NHS reforms, Mr Sunak insisted the Tory peer had resigned after taking a “different course” when asked to apologise for his “incompatible” remarks – despite No 10 insisting just hours earlier that he had the PM’s confidence.
But Lord Goldsmith opened up a new front of criticism for Mr Sunak as he countered the PM’s claims of his refusal to apologise on Friday, insisting the Sunak government’s “lethargy” on climate meant his resignation had been a “long time coming”.
What did privileges committe say in the earlier partygate report?
In its partygate report published on 15 June, the privileges committee said: “From the outset of this inquiry there has been a sustained attempt, seemingly co-ordinated, to undermine the committee’s credibility and, more worryingly, that of those members serving on it.
“The committee is concerned that if these behaviours go unchallenged, it will be impossible for the House to establish such a committee to conduct sensitive and important inquiries in the future.
“The House must have a committee to defend its rights and privileges, and it must protect members of the House doing that duty from formal or informal attack or undermining designed to deter and prevent them from doing that duty.
“We will be making a special report separately to the House dealing with these matters.”
Special report due to be published Thursday morning
MPs who ruled that Boris Johnson lied to Parliament with his partygate assurances are expected to publish a follow-up report detailing attempts to interfere with the inquiry this morning.
The Privileges Committee published its report into the former prime minister earlier this month, concluding he committed “repeated contempts” of Parliament by deliberately misleading MPs with his partygate denials before being complicit in a campaign of abuse and intimidation
The seven-person panel, which was chaired by veteran Labour MP Harriet Harman but had a Conservative majority, used its 106-page report to warn Mr Johnson’s most vocal defenders that they would face scrutiny themselves through a special update into attempts to undermine its work.
It is expected that the follow-up document will be published on Thursday.
According to sources cited by The Guardian, the special report will raise issues encountered by the committee during its initial inquiry, including whether statements by Mr Johnson’s supporters could be considered a contempt of Parliament in their own right.
In its partygate report published on June 15, the Privileges Committee said: “From the outset of this inquiry there has been a sustained attempt, seemingly co-ordinated, to undermine the committee’s credibility and, more worryingly, that of those members serving on it.
“The committee is concerned that if these behaviours go unchallenged, it will be impossible for the House to establish such a committee to conduct sensitive and important inquiries in the future.
“The House must have a committee to defend its rights and privileges, and it must protect members of the House doing that duty from formal or informal attack or undermining designed to deter and prevent them from doing that duty.
“We will be making a special report separately to the House dealing with these matters.”
Written ministerial statement due in Commons today
Here are the written ministerial statements due to be made in the Commons on Thursday:
- Secretary of State for Business and Trade: Publication of the Insolvency Service Annual Plan 2023-24.
- Secretary of State for Business and Trade: Shared Parental Leave Update.
- Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Lowland Agricultural Peat Task Force: Chair’s Report and Government Response.
- Chancellor of the Exchequer: Post Office Compensation Update.
- Secretary of State for the Home Department: Firearms licensing.
- Secretary of State for the Home Department: Undercover Policing Inquiry: Tranche 1 Interim Report.
- Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Building Safety Update.
ICYMI: Johnson allies Dorries and Rees-Mogg to come under fire in Partygate ‘special report'
Boris Johnson allies including Nadine Dorries and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg are set to come under fire in a “special report” by Parliament’s Privileges Committee, Archie Mitchell reports.
The committee which ruled the former PM had repeatedly lied to MPs will detail efforts by Mr Johnson’s supporters to interfere with its inquiry - including by branding it a “kangaroo court”.
Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, one of Mr Johnson’s staunchest allies, urged voters to turf out Tory MPs who backed the committee’s report.
She said: “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.”
And Mr Rees-Mogg has described the report’s findings were “fundamentally flawed”.
Publishing the long-awaited report into whether Mr Johnson misled MPs over Partygate, the Privileges Committee said there had been “a sustained attempt, seemingly co-ordinated, to undermine the Committee’s credibility”.
“We note that Mr Johnson at no point denounced this campaign while it was under way,” it added.
As well as naming MPs, the special report is expected to identify members of the House of Lords who were part of the “coordinated campaign”.
Conservative Lord Peter Cruddas, given his peerage by Mr Johnson, is also expected to be named having called the inquiry a “political show trial” and an “anti democratic abuse of justice”.
Public ‘losing sympathy’ with Just Stop Oil activists - minister
A lot of people are “losing sympathy” with Just Stop Oil because of their protest tactics, a government minister has suggested.
Health minister Neil O’Brien said the group’s actions were “not doing the environment any favours at all”.
His comments came after activists disrupted the second Ashes test on Wednesday. More comments from Mr O’Brien below:
Invest more in domestic abuse services, women’s groups urge minister
Women’s groups have urged the justice secretary to commit to increased investment in specialist community-based domestic abuse services which they described as "chronically underfunded".
A coalition of 11 women’s sector organisations has launched a petition to Alex Chalk stating at least £238 million a year is needed for such services through the Victims and Prisoners Bill.
According to a report by Women’s Aid, an annual investment of £427 million is required to fund both community-based and refuge services "to the level needed to support women and children who need to access them", with the latter requiring a minimum of £189 million.
The charity said research estimates the economic and social costs of domestic abuse in England in 2022 were just under £78 billion, and argued timely and effective intervention could save up to £23 billion a year.
Ruth Davison, chief executive of Refuge, said: "For so many services up and down the country, current financial pressures mean that it’s becoming harder for frontline service providers to meet the rising demand for support.
"We need a commitment from the Government that they will allocate sustainable, ring-fenced funding to community-based services so that every survivor can access specialist support when they need it."
The Ministry of Justice said it was committed to “ensuring that victims of domestic abuse can receive the support they need, whenever they need it.”
Tory peer says ‘kangaroo court’ should ‘hop less'
Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:
Lord Cruddas, a Tory peer expected to be named in the Privileges Committee’s “special report”, has said the idea he intimidated MPs is “nonsense”.
The staunch Boris Johnson supporter repeated the claim that the committee is a “kangaroo court”, adding that “if they don’t want people noticing, they should hop less”.
Lord Cruddas, a businessman and Tory donor, also said the committee does not have the power to sanction members of the upper house.
He said on Twitter: “The House of Lords is an independent body. Once again [the Privileges Committee] has embarrassed Parliament by not understanding basic law. The idea I ‘intimidated’ a committee of supposedly grown-up individuals is a nonsense.
“Worse frankly, it is defamatory of me and I suspect it is yet more snobbery directed at someone from the working class who has succeeded in life from these career politicians.
“Based on their ‘logic’ they are intimidating me and committing contempt of the House of Lords. If they don’t want people noticing they are a kangaroo court then they should hop less.”
Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney to give evidence at Covid-19 inquiry
Alongside the expected arrival shortly of a new Partygate report, Scotland’s former first minister Nicola Sturgeon and former deputy first minister John Swinney will give evidence to the UK Covid-19 Inquiry on Thursday.
Ms Sturgeon has repeatedly said the pandemic was one of the hardest things she has ever had to deal with in her political career.
Senior Scottish government officials began giving evidence to the inquiry on Wednesday.
Jeane Freeman, the former cabinet secretary for health and sport, said that while Scotland could have better handled the pandemic, there was ultimately “no plan” that could have helped the country cope with Covid-19.
Nicola Sturgeon and John Swinney to give evidence at Covid-19 inquiry
Scotland’s former first minister has repeatedly said the pandemic was one of the hardest things she has ever had to deal with in her political career
Breaking: Privileges committee publishes new special report
The cross-party privileges committee has published its new “special report”, taking aim at allies of Boris Johnson who sought to undermine their investigation into the former prime minister.
In its Partygate report published on 15 June, the Privileges Committee said: “From the outset of this inquiry there has been a sustained attempt, seemingly co-ordinated, to undermine the committee’s credibility and, more worryingly, that of those members serving on it.
“The committee is concerned that if these behaviours go unchallenged, it will be impossible for the House to establish such a committee to conduct sensitive and important inquiries in the future.
“The House must have a committee to defend its rights and privileges, and it must protect members of the House doing that duty from formal or informal attack or undermining designed to deter and prevent them from doing that duty.
“We will be making a special report separately to the House dealing with these matters.”
Boris Johnson’s allies named in report
A number of Boris Johnson’s allies have been named in the privileges committee’s new special report.
It describes a “coordinated campaign of interference” which put “improper pressure” on the committee as it investigated the ex-PM, adding: “We have not catalogued every tweet or TV appearance, but have set out in an annex to this report some of the most disturbing examples of the co-ordinated campaign to interfere with the work of the Committee.”
It highlights remarks by Jacob Rees-Mogg, Nadine Dorries, Andrea Jenkyns, Priti Patel, Michael Fabricant, Mark Jenkinson, Zac Goldsmith and Brendan Clarke-Smith.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies