Jacob Rees Mogg said it is ‘vindictive’ to remove Boris Johnson’s parliamentary pass
Conservative former cabinet minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said it was legitimate to challenge the findings of the Privileges Committee, and said removing Boris Johnson’s parliamentary pass was “ridiculous”.
Addressing the proposed 90-day suspension from the Commons, said: “A vindictive sanction, it seems to me, which they can’t implement because Mr Johnson has left Parliament. So they go from the vindictive to the ridiculous with not allowing him a parliamentary pass.”
He also told MPs: “It is absolutely legitimate to criticise the conduct of a committee, to criticise the members of a committee. That is politics.
“Our politics is adversarial… it is open to us within this chamber to accuse people within the bounds of good order of saying things that we disagree with. Outside this chamber freedom of speech is paramount.”
He added: “We must defend the right of freedom of speech. And, frankly, if politicians cannot cope with criticism you wonder what on earth they are doing with a political career.”
PM’s former PPS defends her old boss
Conservative MP and former PPS for Boris Johnson Lia Nici defended her former boss saying the “prime minister is not the caretaker of the building, it is not their job to go round and look in rooms and decide who may be working and who may not be working”.
The MP for Great Grimsby said: “I have to speak in the House today because I cannot see where the evidence is where Boris Johnson misled Parliament knowingly, intentionally or recklessly…. The reality is – is that Boris Johnson did not knowingly or intentionally mislead this House.”
She went on: “Sadly this is all becoming part of a kind of political opportunism for those people who don’t like Boris Johnson’s approach.”
Sir Ian McKellen brings some drama to committee debate
Actor Sir Ian McKellen was present in the Commons for the debate on the Privileges Committee report.
Sir Ian watched the proceedings from the MPs’ guests gallery, occasionally using a pair of opera glasses.
He declined to comment on leaving the House.
Opposition MP brands Boris as ‘a man child’
Labour’s Dame Angela Eagle (Wallasey) branded Boris Johnson’s departure the “narcissistic howl of a man child who won’t see that he only has himself to blame”.
She said the report was “a damning verdict” on the former Prime Minister.
She said: “There has been no self-reflection, no apology, no acceptance of a shred of responsibility, just the narcissistic howl of a man child who won’t see that he only has himself to blame.”
Harriet Harman: Conservative committee members have faced ‘threats, intimidation and harassment’
The chair of the Privileges Committee says its Conservative members faced “threats, intimidation and harassment”.
Labour Harriet Harman thanked “every member of the Privileges Committee” for their “outstanding dedication and commitment”, adding: “But particularly the Conservative members of the committee. They have also had to be extraordinarily resilient.
“They have had to withstand a campaign of threats, intimidation, and harassment designed to challenge the legitimacy of the inquiry, to drive them off the Committee and thereby frustrate the intention of the House that this inquiry should be carried out. Yet through all this, they have not given into the intimidation.”
Former Conservative minister says he will vote for the report
Conservative former minister Tobias Ellwood said he would “vote in support” of the Privileges Committee report.
He said: “Even though Boris Johnson has absented himself from this House, almost to some degree making this report somewhat academic, the nation wants to see its conclusion, the nation who puts us here wants to make sure that this process reaches its conclusion.”
Harriet Harman: I offered to step aside as committee chair but government told me to stay
Harriet Harman said she offered to step aside from the committee but the Government gave her assurances she would not be seen as biased in her judgment of Boris Johnson.
Conservative former minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg referenced a precedent regarding the perception of bias in a House of Lords committee as he highlighted Ms Harman’s tweets criticising the ex-PM, asking: “In relation to her famous tweets, how does she think she met the Hoffmann test?”
Ms Harman, who chaired the committee, responded “I am happy to answer that point that is made. I was appointed by this House in the expectation that I would chair the committee with no one speaking against it.
“After the tweets were brought to light, they were highlighted, because I am concerned about the perception of fairness of the committee and I agree that perception matters, I made it my business to find out whether or not it would mean that the Government would not have confidence in me if I continued to chair the committee.
“I actually said I am more than happy to step aside because perception matters and I don’t want to do this if the Government doesn’t have confidence in me, because I need the whole House of have confidence in the work that the committee has mandated.
“I was assured that I should continue the work that the House had mandated with the appointment that the House had put me into and so I did just that.”
Theresa May urges fellow MPs to vote in favour of the report
Theresa May urged her fellow MPs to vote in favour of the report.
The former Prime Minister said all MPs are “under an obligation” to not repeat claims that mislead the House and also correct the record at the first opportunity, adding: “Above all we are all responsible for our own actions.
“Beyond that this House has a responsibility to ensure standards are upheld by showing that we are willing to act against the interests of colleagues when the facts require it and in this case I believe they do.”
She added:“I will vote in favour of the report by the Privileges Committee, I urge all members of this House to do so – to uphold standards in public life, to show that we all recognise the responsibility we have to the people we serve and to help to restore faith in our parliamentary democracy.”
Theresa May: I accept the findings of the report
Conservative former prime minister Theresa May told the Commons she accepts the findings of the Privileges Committee’s report.
She told MPs: “It is a rigorous report and I accept its findings.”
“It is not easy to sit in judgment on friends and colleagues,” she said, adding “but friendship, working together, should not get in the way of doing what is right.
“I commend the members of the Privileges Committee for their painstaking work, and for their dignity in the face of slurs on their integrity. To all the members of the committee, this House should… say thank you for your service.”
She added: “This committee report matters. This debate matters. And this vote matters. They matter because they strike at the heart of the bond of trust and respect between the public and Parliament that underpin the workings of this place and of our democracy.”
PM accused of being too weak to stand up to his predecessor
Rishi Sunak is “too weak” to stand up to Boris Johnson and his “sycophants”, Labour has said.
Shadow Commons leader Thangam Debbonaire told the Commons: “When stories or scandals like this one cut through with the public, it offers a Prime Minister the chance to press the reset button, to show leadership, get to grips with an issue, tackle it head on, but this Prime Minister is simply too weak to do so.
“Despite promising integrity, professionalism, accountability at every level, he has shown he is too weak to stand up to Boris Johnson and his sycophants, which is profoundly dangerous because if we can’t have a Prime Minister that stand up for standards, what have we got?”
Leader of the Commons Penny Mordaunt said the Prime Minister was “on record defending the work of the Privileges Committee”.
She added: “He has called out those that have overstepped the mark from genuine, legitimate questions around process and so forth to attacking and intimidating members of the Committee and bringing the House into disrepute.”
