All MPs will be “complicit” in slipping standards if motion fails, Starmer warns

Keir Starmer has warned that all MPs will be “complicit” in allowing parliamentary standards to slip if they choose not to pass Labour’s motion calling for an inquiry into claims that Boris Johnson misled parliament over the ‘partygate’ row.

Speaking in parliament this morning, the Labour leader said the motion “seeks to defend the simple principle that honesty, integrity and telling the truth matter in our politics” – a principle he told the Commons was “under attack” as a result of the Prime Minister’s actions.

Starmer argued that if the motion does not pass: “We are all complicit in allowing these standards to slip. We’re all complicit in allowing the public to think we’re all the same, nobody tells the truth and there are alternative sets of facts.”

He criticised MPs defending Johnson against the allegations, saying: “Many of them seek to dismiss its importance” with arguments such as “there are worse crimes.”

He added: “Every time one of these arguments is trotted out, the status of this house is gradually eroded and our democracy becomes a little weaker.

“Because the convention that parliament must not be misled and that in return we don’t accuse each other of lying are not curious quirks of this strange place. They’re fundamental pillars on which our constitution is built.” He told MPs that Johnson had “used our faith, our conventions, to cover up his misdeeds”.

Starmer said almost every family was “marred” during the pandemic, including his own, “by things that we didn’t do that we would have liked to have done” and that many felt a “huge sense of guilt” at the decisions they took to follow the rules.

“That’s why anybody trying to say this is just like a speeding ticket doesn’t understand what this goes to politically and emotionally,” the Labour leader added.

Starmer said it is already known that the Prime Minister “has a case to answer”, telling parliament: “Anybody who denies that simple fact has their head in the sand or has given up any interest in the truth, given up interest in the traditions of our nation or order to prop up a law-breaking Prime Minister.”

Closing his statement, he told MPs: “If we fail in our duty, the public will not forgive and forget that we have done so, because this will be the parliament that failed.

“Failed to stand up for honesty, integrity and telling the truth in politics. Failed to stand up to a Prime Minister who seeks to turn our good faith against us and failed to stand up for our great democracy.

“And it’s not just the eyes of our country that are upon us. It will also be the judgement of future generations who will look back at what members of this great house did when our customs were tested, when its traditions were pushed to a breaking point, when we were called up to stand up for honesty, integrity and for truth.”

The Tories had initially proposed an amendment to the motion that would have delayed the decision on whether the committee should investigate until after Sue Gray’s report on partygate had been published. Speaker Lindsay Hoyle confirmed that the amendment had been withdrawn at the start of the today’s debate.

A senior government source told The Guardian: “The Prime Minister has always been clear that he’s happy to face whatever inquiries parliament sees fit and is happy for the house to decide how it wishes to proceed today and therefore will not be whipping Conservative MPs.”

Tory MPs were informed this morning that the government would allow them a free vote on the motion. Conservative whips had been expected to whip against launching an investigation into the Prime Minister.

Below is the full text of the motion and the withdrawn government amendment:

Keir Starmer
Ian Blackford
Ed Davey
Liz Saville Roberts
Colum Eastwood
Caroline Lucas
Stephen Farry

That this House
(1) notes that, given the issue of fixed penalty notices by the police in relation to events in 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office, assertions the Rt hon Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip has made on the floor of the House about the legality of activities in 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office under Covid regulations, including but not limited to the following answers given at Prime Minister’s Questions: 1 December 2021, that “all guidance was followed in No. 10”, Official Report vol. 704, col. 909; 8 December 2021 that “I have been repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken”, Official Report vol. 705, col. 372; 8 December 2021 that “I am sickened myself and furious about that, but I repeat what I have said to him: I have been repeatedly assured that the rules were not broken”, Official Report vol. 705, col. 372 6 Thursday 21 April 2022 OP No.147: Part 1 Business Today: Chamber and 8 December 2021 “the guidance was followed and the rules were followed at all times”, Official Report vol. 705, col. 379, appear to amount to misleading the House; and

(2) orders that this matter be referred to the Committee of Privileges to consider whether the Rt hon Member’s conduct amounted to a contempt of the House, but that the Committee shall not begin substantive consideration of the matter until the inquiries currently being conducted by the Metropolitan Police have been concluded.

Amendment (a)
Michael Ellis
Mark Spencer

Line 1, leave out from “House” to end and insert:
“notes that the Prime Minister has accepted mistakes were made in relation to events in 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office under Covid regulations and has apologised to the House and to the country; further notes that a police investigation is yet to be concluded into those events and that following the conclusion of that investigation the report of the related Cabinet Office investigation will be published; and accordingly considers that a decision on whether to refer the matter of the Prime Minister’s responses to the House in relation to those events in the Cabinet Office and No 10 Downing Street to the Committee on Privileges should be taken at such time as that police investigation has officially concluded and the report following the Cabinet Office investigation has been published and subject to Mr Speaker considering that any such future motion should be given precedence as a matter of privilege thereafter for debate and decision by the House.”.