MPs to get vote on claims Prime Minister misled parliament over partygate

MPs will have the opportunity to vote on whether to launch an investigation into claims that Boris Johnson lied to parliament over the ‘partygate’ row, Lindsay Hoyle has revealed in a statement to the Commons this afternoon.

Opening today’s session of parliament, the Speaker started by telling MPs that the Labour leader will be allowed to table a motion for Thursday calling for a privileges committee inquiry. The motion will not be one that simply states that Johnson lied and was in contempt of parliament.

Johnson and Rishi Sunak both received fines last week for breaching Covid. The Prime Minister previously told parliament that all “the guidance was followed” when questioned on the initial allegations. The ministerial code outlines that ministers who knowingly misled parliament “will be expected to offer their resignation”.

After a video was released showing No 10 staff laughing about an event on December 18th 2020, Johnson said he had been “repeatedly assured” that “there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken”. Later that day, he said he was “sure that whatever happened, the guidance was followed”.

Hoyle emphasised this afternoon that he has “no jurisdiction over the ministerial code, even though a lot of people seem to think I have”, adding that his role as Speaker 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,” he said.

The privileges committee in parliament is a cross-party group of seven MPs, chaired by Labour’s Chris Bryant but with a Conservative majority. Johnson is due to be on a trip to India on Thursday, and so is expected to miss the vote.

The Prime Minister will, however, appear in front of MPs this afternoon in his first appearance since being fined and is reportedly expected to give a “full-throated apology” for breaking Covid rules designed and enforced by his government.

Johnson and Sunak are among 50 issued with fixed-penalty notices last week. The latest ‘tranche’ of fines is expected to be followed by more notices as the Met investigation into illegal social gatherings during the pandemic continues.

Johnson admitted to MPs in January that he did attend an event in the No 10 garden in May 2020 organised by his private secretary Martin Reynolds, telling MPs: “I believed implicitly that this was a work event, but with hindsight, I should have sent everyone back inside.”

The Prime Minister later told journalists: “Nobody told me that what we were doing was against the rules, that the event in question was something – that we were going to do something that wasn’t a work event.”

Below is the full statement made by Lindsay Hoyle today.

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.