Boris Johnson news - live: MPs to investigate PM over potential partygate Commons lies
PM accused of ‘running away’ from Commons drama with twice-delayed India trip
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Boris Johnson is set to be investigated for potentially lying to MPs over parties held at Number 10, after a landmark decision by the House of Commons.
This comes after the prime minister rejected a call by former Brexit minister Steve Baker for him to resign over Partygate, insisting that he has “absolutely nothing, frankly, to hide”.
Tory MP claimed the prime minister “now should be long gone” after – in a major U-turn, amid fears of a rebellion – the government backed down from a bid to force its MPs to delay a vote on whether to hold a Commons inquiry into whether he misled parliament, which is now expected to go ahead.
Ahead of Thursday’s debate, Labour threatened to plaster the names of MPs who blocked the probe across election leaflets, and accused Mr Johnson of using his two-day trip to India as a distraction.
Speaking from a JCB factory in Gujarat, Mr Johnson claimed he was “very keen for every possible form of scrutiny” and said MPs “must do whatever they want.”
In the Commons, the SNP’s Ian Blackford branded Mr Johnson a “liar” – and was not ordered to retract his remark by the Speaker.
Ian Blackford calls Boris Johnson a ‘liar’ in the Commons
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has labelled Boris Johnson a “liar”, without rebuke from the Speaker.
“At the very heart of this scandal there is one thing that needs to be said, one thing that needs to be heard and it's the very reason that we all need to act,” the MP said. “And the reason is this: the prime minister of the United Kingdom is a liar.
“I genuinely don't say that lightly and I don't say it loosely. I honestly believe that it's right that we're slow to use that word, but I equally believe that it is right that we should never be slow to say it and call it out when it is so obviously true.”
While MPs are usually censured by the Speaker for calling their fellow parliamentarians liars, they are reportedly exempt from this rule when a debate centres around the honesty of a member of the House.
However, Mr Blackford did concede to a demand from the Speaker to withdraw his claim that Boris Johnson had lied to the Queen.
Johnson not fit to govern, says Tory backbencher
A Conservative MP who submitted a letter of no confidence in the prime minister in January says Boris Johnson is no longer fit to govern.
Hazel Grove MP William Wragg told MPs it was the aftermath of former government press spokeswoman Allegra Stratton’s resignation that led him to submit a letter, saying: “I hope that she is well and that she will be able to continue her distinguished career, but what alarmed me most was later that evening a press preview of the winter Covid Plan B measures brought forward to try to move matters on.”
He added: “I therefore thought to myself if a government was prepared to bring such measures forward earlier in order to distract from its own embarrassment that the Prime Minister was no longer fit to govern.”
Concluding his speech, he said: “The matter before us is one of the heart of this institution, of our Parliament. I love this place, believing it to be place of high ideals and purpose. What is said here matters.
“Quite apart from the Facebook clips about roundabouts and drains in our constituencies, or indeed the confected anger to wind people up, it should be a place venerated by those of us given the singular honour of being sent here.
“Now of course it can be a pantomime, a farce, turgidly boring, obscure, but it should always be reasonably honest, and it is for that I hope not naive principle that I cannot support the amendment and I will vote for the main motion.”
MPs allowed by Speaker to call Boris Johnson a ‘liar’ in parliament
The Speaker of the House of Commons has permitted MPs to call Boris Johnson a “liar” during a parliamentary debate, breaking with recent convention.
Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has sanctioned MPs for referring to the prime minister as a liar a number of times in recent months, but today he appeared to temporarily lift the ban, writes Jon Stone:
MPs allowed by Speaker to call Boris Johnson a ‘liar’ in parliament
‘Liar’ is usually banned in parliamentary debates
Eurosceptic Tory Steve Baker calls for PM to quit
Former Conservative minister Steve Baker has called for Boris Johnson to quit for failing to follow his own Covid rules during the partygate scandal.
“The prime minister now should be long gone,” the senior backbencher told the Commons on Thursday in what will be a significant blow to Mr Johnson. “Really, the prime minister should just know the gig’s up.’”
Mr Baker said he would back the motion, explaining: “The reason that he is not long gone because removing a sitting prime minister is an extremely grave matter. I’ve been tempted to forgive. The possibility of that has gone.”
Adam Forrest reports:
‘The gig’s up’ – senior Tory MP calls on Boris Johnson to resign
‘The PM should be long gone,’ says Steve Baker
Independent readers say Johnson should be investigated further
Mr Johnson should be investigated further over Partygate, according to 97 per cent of The Independent’s readers.
Earlier this week, readers were asked whether they thought he should be investigated further. Of 432 votes in two days, 419 people said yes and 13 said no. There was also an option ‘don’t know’, which received no votes.
97% of Independent readers think PM should be investigated further over Partygate
MPs are debating and voting on whether there should be a parliamentary investigation into claims he lied about the scandal
Rishi Sunak ‘extremely and sincerely sorry’ for hurt caused by Covid fine
Rishi Sunak has said he is “extremely and sincerely sorry” for the hurt he caused by his attendance at a Downing Street birthday gathering for Boris Johnson during lockdown.
Speaking in Washington, where he is attending the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund, the chancellor said he respected the decision of the police to issue him with a fixed penalty notice (FPN) but claimed he had never considered resigning over the issue.
“I fully respect the decision that the police have reached,” he told the BBC. “I paid the FPN notice straightaway and I am extremely and sincerely sorry for the hurt and the anger that this has caused so many people.
“I have always acted, I believe, in good faith in regard to what I said to parliament.”
Asked if he had considered resigning, Mr Sunak said: “No. I am focused on getting on with the job I have got to do.”
Met announces it will issue no further Partygate fine updates until after May elections
The Metropolitan Police has announced that it will issue no further updates on Partygate fines until after the local elections in May, in a move likely to stoke criticism from some quarters.
“Whilst the investigation will continue during the pre-election period, due to the restrictions around communicating before the May local elections, we will not provide further updates until after 5 May,” a Scotland Yard spokesperson said.
Barrister Adam Wagner, a prominent expert on Covid regulations, points to the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s (NPCC) guidance on purdah, which states that in the period prior to elections, “normal functions of policing must be performed”.
The NPCC guidance adds that “particular care must be taken in this period to avoid activity or publicity that could, or reasonably be seen to, affect or influence the outcome of the election”, but also warns that “delaying an announcement could itself influence the political outcome or impede operational effectiveness”.
Tory MP backs inquiry into Boris Johnson so Commons can ‘move on’ from Partygate
A Tory former minister has urged the need for MPs to draw a line under the Partygate saga in order to discuss more important issues.
Intervening on a speech by Labour MP Andy McDonald, former health minister Steve Brine said: “Right now this House should be discussing childhood cancers. Now, if one was a parent of a child with cancer, I suggest that they would rather the House were discussing that than this.
“That is not to minimise this, but this issue needs to be resolved and we need to move on and for that reason I will be supporting the main motion, with him I suspect, this evening.”
Mr McDonald replied: “He is right, we all want to move on from this, but we will find unless this issue is resolved we will be back to it forever until such a time as the prime minister accepts the consequences of his actions.
“We need that leadership and we are robbed of it at the moment. That is the entire point. Of course cancer with children is critically more important. We want to get on to that, but we cannot have this issue hanging over us.”
You can watch the debate live here:
Boris Johnson insists he does not want ‘absence of scrutiny'
Boris Johnson has insisted he does not want an “absence of scrutiny”, after the government U-turned on trying to delay an inquiry into whether he misled the Commons – but appeared to describe the current scrutiny as “not very useful”.
Speaking to BBC News at the Akshardham Temple in Ahmedabad, the prime minister said: “What I have decided is that I don't want to have any absence of scrutiny and if the opposition want to focus on this and talk about this a lot more, that is fine.”
He added: “What voters will want to see is the conclusion of the investigation and then I think the House of Commons can decide what to do. I will then come back as I've said and explain what happened, give a fuller account than I've been able to do so far, we will get Sue Gray's final words on that matter and then I think people will be able to make a judgment.
“But until then, I have to say, I think a lot of this is not very useful. There's not a lot more I can say and what I want to do is focus on the things that I think are a massive long-term benefit to this country.”
PM says he has ‘absolutely nothing, frankly, to hide’
Boris Johnson has suggested that Tory MP Steve Baker is wrong to call for his resignation, and insisted he has “absolutely nothing, frankly, to hide”.
“People were saying it looks like we are trying to stop stuff. I didn't want that. I didn't want people to be able to say that,” the prime minister told Sky News during a visit to the Akshardham Temple in Ahmedabad.
“I don't want this thing to endlessly go on. But, I have absolutely nothing, frankly, to hide here.”
Confronted with Steve Baker’s comments that “he should know the gig is up”, Mr Johnson said: “I understand people’s feelings. I don’t think that that’s the right thing to do.”
Mr Johnson claimed that he is “of course” confident he will lead the Tories into the next election, saying: “What I am determined to do is make sure we continue with our agenda to unite and level up.”
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