Tory MPs urged to withdraw damning report on Boris Johnson

Veteran Conservative MPs have urged colleagues to support the Privileges Committee’s report on Boris Johnson in the House of Commons on Monday, as jittery Tories consider skipping an expected vote.

The committee condemned the former UK prime minister for contempt of parliament, including lying to MPs over the Covid-19 Partygate scandal, in a 108-page report published on Thursday.

The report said a 90-day suspension would have been recommended to the Commons if Johnson had not already resigned as an MP. Instead, it recommended that he be barred from obtaining a pass to access the Commons, which is normally granted to all former MPs.

The report will be debated in Parliament on Monday and is expected to be voted on.

A group of Johnson’s allies, including Sir Jake Berry, Sir Simon Clarke and Brendan Clarke-Smith, have announced their intention to vote against the report, although they admit they do not have the numbers to win.

Some loyalists have warned allies supporting the report that they could face a battle with their local parties to remain as candidates in the general election. Nadine Dorries said that “any Tory MP who supports this report does not respect democracy and should be unelected”.

In the wake of such threats, and fear of upsetting local members who champion Johnson, a series of Tories privately admit they plan to be absent from Parliament in order to miss the vote.

The Tory whip has decided that attendance in the Commons is not mandatory on Monday, giving MPs the option of not attending. Downing Street has not yet indicated whether Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will vote.

On Friday, however, former cabinet minister Damian Green urged fellow Tory MPs to turn on the BBC, stating the report was “very clear” and that “Parliament must respect its own procedures”.

Green said: “Deliberately abstaining is really not exaggerating the importance of this opportunity.” He said, “It falls exclusively on the backbenchers to care about the future of parliamentary discipline”.

John Barron, a veteran Conservative who has been an MP for more than 20 years, also stressed the importance of defending Johnson from the Privileges Committee inquiry.

“We must uphold the integrity of the House, of Parliament, we must support that report if it comes to a vote.”

Johnson loyalist Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg indicated that while the government was prudent to allow an independent vote on the matter, the whipping operation would be unlikely to succeed given the strength of feeling among the former PM’s supporters.

Grassroots party members who support him are being urged to lobby Tory MPs ahead of the vote and make clear their concerns about Johnson’s treatment.

The Conservative Democratic Organisation, launched by Johnson’s allies after his departure from Downing Street, has been inundated with messages from activists who are furious about the Privileges Committee report, according to its chairman David Campbell Bannerman.

The former Tory MEP said party members were “concerned about what they call a stitch-up, which I call a coup”. In a warning to the Conservatives in the Commons, he said the CDO was advising members on the process of unselecting their local MP.

As the party split, Sunak suffered another blow as Telford MP Lucy Allan announced she would stand down at the next election.

She said of the Shropshire town where Johnson launched his 2019 manifesto: “Today’s Conservative Party is no longer interested in seats like Telford.”