Partygate revelations don’t just affect Boris Johnson – but Rishi Sunak too

Editorial: The inquiry will make its recommendations to the whole Commons and the prime minister really cannot win

It would seem Johnson has a lot to answer for (Reuters)

When Harriet Harman, Bernard Jenkin, Charles Walker, Allan Dorans, Alberto Costa, Yvonne Forfague and Andy Carter were given a guided tour of Downing Street a fortnight ago, they were more than mere curious tourists. The seven MPs who serve on the House of Commons committee of privileges were inspecting the premises rather like a jury might take a look around a crime scene. Which, given the rampant Covid rule-breaking during Partygate, is more or less what it was.

Sure enough, they discovered, Sherlock Holmes-style, “that a line of sight exists from the bottom of the stairs leading up to what was then Mr Johnson’s flat into the press office vestibule where these gatherings took place, and that for Mr Johnson to have been present in the vestibule during the gatherings he would have had to proceed from the staircase through a further intervening anteroom”. Elementary, you may say.

It is but one of many extremely damaging interim conclusions that the MPs have reached. Duly warned about the seriousness and detail of the evidence against him, it is now for Mr Johnson to offer his side of the story during a televised hearing before the committee in the week beginning 20 March. It is a virtual impeachment, and quite unprecedented. The event should provide a healthy boost to sales of popcorn.