Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has announced that MPs will get the opportunity to debate, and vote on, whether Boris Johnson should be referred to the Commons privileges committee over potentially false statements he made to parliament about Partygate.
Sir Lindsay kicked off Tuesday afternoon’s proceedings by announcing that multiple MPs – including Labour leader Keir Starmer – had written to him about the prime minister’s conduct. He said while it is not for him to police the ministerial code, that having taken advice “from the clerks of the House”, he had decided to allow a debate to go ahead on Thursday.
“Scheduling the debate will, I hope, give members an opportunity to consider the motion and the response to it,” he told MPs.
It comes as Mr Johnson is expected to make a “full-throated apology” to MPs later today in his first statement to the Commons since he was fined by the Metropolitan Police for attending a birthday bash – thrown in his honour – in the Cabinet room in June 2020 while strict Covid restrictions were in place.
Patel speaks to MPs about plan to divert refugees to Rwanda
Next up on the Commons schedule is Priti Patel, the home secretary, who is making a statement to the Commons about the government’s plan to send asylum seekers arriving in the UK on small boats to Rwanda.
Stay tuned for live updates on what she says.
Tories who vote against Labour motion ‘to be accused of cover up’ – report
ITV’s Paul Brand says a “Labour source” has told him that Tory MPs who vote against the Labour motion on Thursday will be accused by opposition politicians of supporting a cover up.
Every misleading statement PM has made to parliament since general election
Boris Johnson and his ministers have made at least 27 false statements to parliament since the 2019 general election – and have failed to correct them.
An investigation by The Independent, working with Full Fact, has found that the prime minister made 17 of the statements, while four were made by Matt Hancock as health secretary, two by home secretary Priti Patel, and one each by attorney general Suella Braverman, culture secretary Nadine Dorries, Afghan resettlement minister Victoria Atkins, and Jacob Rees-Mogg, the ex-House of Commons leader.
The figures have sparked accusations of a “crisis of honesty”.
Our home affairs editor Lizzie Dearden reports:
Chair of privileges committee ‘won’t be commenting’
Labour’s Chris Bryant says he will not be answer “any questions” about the upcoming vote on Boris Johnson in case the PM should be referred to the privileges committee, which he chairs.
Full text of speaker Lindsay Hoyle’s statement to MPs
For anyone interested, here is the full text of Lindsay Hoyle’s statement to MPs:
“I’ve received letters from a number of honourable and right honourable members, including [Keir Starmer], requesting that I give precedence to a matter of as an issue of privilege. The matter is the prime minister’s statements to the house regarding gatherings held at Downing Street and Whitehall during the lockdown.
“The procedure for dealing with such a request is set out in Erskine May at paragraph 15.32. I want to be clear about my role.
“Firstly, as members will appreciate, it is not for me to police the ministerial code, I have no jurisdiction over the ministerial code even though a lot of people seem to think I have. It is not the case.
“Secondly, it is not for me to determine whether or not the prime minister has committed a contempt. My role is to decide whether there is an arguable case to be examined.
“Having considered the issue, having taken advice from the clerks of the House, I’ve decided that this is a matter that I should allow the precedence accorded to the issue of privilege. Therefore [Starmer] may table a motion for debate on Thursday.
“Scheduling the debate for Thursday will, I hope, give members an opportunity to consider the motion and the response to it.
“The motion will appear on Thursday’s order paper to be taken after any urgent questions or statements. Hopefully there won’t be any.
“I hope this is helpful to the house.”
What is the Commons privileges committee?
The House of Commons privileges committee is made up of seven MPs reflecting the make-up of the Commons – meaning at the moment there are four Tories, two from Labour and one from the SNP.
Its chair must also be a member of the opposition, and the position is currently held by Labour’s Chris Bryant.
The group only considers specific matters to do with the privileges of the Commons – for example, witnesses refusing to appear in front of a select committee, or, as the claim may be in this case against Boris Johnson, ministers misleading the House.
But the committee can only swing into action if MPs vote in favour of them conducting an investigation, which is what the vote on Thursday could do.
They would then send a report back to the Commons, and their conclusions, or any recommendations, would be voted on by MPs.
MPs to vote on whether PM ‘committed contempt’ over Partygate
Following my last post, here’s our deputy poltical editor Rob Merrick with more on Lindsay Hoyle’s announcement:
Speaker: MPs to vote on Thursday over claims Johnson lied to parliament
Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle has kicked off this afternoon’s proceedings by announcing that multiple MPs have written to him about the prime minister. This includes Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, he says.
Sir Lindsay says it is not for him to police the ministerial code, and that he has no jurisdiction over it, “even though a lot of people think I have”. It is also not his role to consider if the PM has committed a contempt, he tells MPs.
But, having taken advice “from the clerks of the House”, he says he has decided to allow this request to take precedence “accorded to the issue of privilege”.
As a result, Sir Keir can table a motion for Thursday. “Scheduling the debate for Thursday will, I hope, give members an opportunity to consider the motion and the response to it,” he says, adding:
“I hope this is helpful to the House.”
The debate will result in a vote, which will ultimately determine whether Boris Johnson should be referred to the Commons privileges committee over making potentially false statements to parliament about Partygate.
Sir Lindsay made the announcement ahead of Mr Johnson’s scheduled speech to MPs later this afternoon, at around 4.30pm, where he is due to apologise after being fined by police for breaking his own Covid laws.
PM wrong to use Brexit to justify ‘delinquent’ Rwanda plan – senior Tory
Former Brexit minister David Davis has accused Boris Johnson of “moral delinquency” over the government’s decision to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.
The senior Conservative MP condemned the PM for using Brexit to justify the plan to fly cross-channel migrants to east Africa.
It comes after MR Johnson invoked his pledge of “taking back control” of borders, claiming that offshore processing is an “innovative approach made possible by Brexit freedoms”. But Mr Davis said:
“The freedoms of Brexit should be about innovations justifying British exceptionalism on the basis of moral leadership – not moral delinquency.”
Adam Forrest reports:
PM will attempt to persuade, but not lecture, India to loosen Russian ties
No 10 has released some details of Boris Johnson’s upcoming trip to India this week, where he will encourage Narendra Modi to loosen ties with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The PM will not seek to “lecture” his Indian counterpart, despite concerns within the government that Mr Modi has not been strong enough in condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine, Downing Street insisted.
It added that Mr Johnson will promise to work with India and other countries in a similar position to reduce their dependence on Russian fossil fuels and defence equipment.
At Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Mr Johnson told ministers the UK had a “deep and long-lasting partnership” with India which he would seek to expand.
The PM will meet Mr Modi in New Delhi on Friday.
Ahead of the trip, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the shadow international trade secretary, said Mr Johnson must secure commitments on climate change and labour standards in supply chains. “Otherwise, people will – rightly – see this as a vanity trip to distract from the prime minister’s law-breaking and failure to tackle the cost-of-living crisis,” the Labour frontbencher insisted.
