Allies of Boris Johnson have been criticised for putting “improper pressure” on the parliamentary committee investigating the Partygate scandal.
Johnson and his supporters, including former culture secretary Nadine Dorries and former Commons leader Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, repeatedly attacked the investigation—which triggered the former PM’s resignation—as a “witch hunt” and “kangaroo court.”
Some of them even suggested that Conservative MPs who vote for the committee’s verdict should be deselected as candidates at the next general election.
In a special report released on Thursday, the Privileges Committee named some of those involved and criticised their actions.
“Those members did not choose to engage through any proper process such as the submission of letters or evidence to our inquiry, but by attacking the members of the committee, in order to influence their judgment,” the committee’s report said.
Their aim was to “influence the outcome of the inquiry,” “impede the work of the committee by inducing members to resign from it,” “discredit the committee’s conclusions if those conclusions were not what they wanted,” and “discredit the committee as a whole,” it said.
‘Unprecedented and Coordinated’
The committee highlighted comments by senior MPs including Dorries, Rees-Mogg, and Dame Priti Patel along with peers including Lord Goldsmith—a serving minister—claiming it was part of a coordinated attempt to undermine the panel’s work.“The committee is particularly concerned about attacks mounted by experienced colleagues, including a serving minister of the Crown, a former leader of the House and a former secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport,” said the report.
In a reference to the broadcasting roles of Dorries and Rees-Mogg, the committee said, “Two of the members mounting the most vociferous attacks on the committee did so from the platform of their own hosted TV shows.”
The report said “pressure was applied particularly to Conservative members of the committee.”
It added: “This had the clear intention to drive those members off the committee and so to frustrate the intention of the House that the inquiry should be carried out, or to prevent the inquiry coming to a conclusion which the critics did not want.”
There were also “sustained attempts to undermine and challenge the impartiality” of the committee’s Labour chairwoman, Harriet Harman.
“This unprecedented and coordinated pressure did not affect the conduct or outcome of our inquiry. However, it had significant personal impact on individual members and raised significant security concerns.”
The committee said it will be for the House of Commons to consider “what further action, if any, to take” in respect of the MPs named in the report.
‘Shocked and Disappointed’
Brendan Clarke-Smith, one of the MPs named in the report, attacked the investigation in a Twitter post on June 9, “Tonight we saw the end result of a parliamentary witch-hunt which would put a banana republic to shame.”On Thursday, he said he was “shocked and disappointed” to be named in the new report.
“This raises serious questions about free speech in a democratic society and my colleagues and I will continue to defend these principles going forward,” he wrote on Twitter.
Also commenting on the report, the Liberal Democrats said the involvement of MPs included in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list—Dame Priti Patel, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, and Sir Michael Fabricant—was scandalous.
Deputy Lib Dem leader Daisy Cooper said: “Several of these MPs shamelessly attacked the Privileges Committee for investigating Boris Johnson’s Partygate lies and were then rewarded with gongs just weeks afterwards. This looks like a gongs for cronies scandal.”
She said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should order an investigation into whether there was collusion between the former prime minister and his allies.
