Labour motion to “clean up politics” passes as Conservatives abstain

Labour’s motion calling on ministers to back the recommendations of the parliamentary committee on standards in public life has been passed by the House of Commons as the government instructed Conservative MPs to abstain.

Tabled amid the ongoing ‘partygate’ row, which has seen Boris Johnson fined for breaking Covid rules introduced by the government and accused of misleading parliament, 215 MPs backed the motion this afternoon while none voted against.

Opposition day motions allow opposition parties to set the parliamentary agenda for the day, a power normally exercised by the government. Opposition day motions are not binding on the government.

Introducing the motion for Labour today, Angela Rayner told MPs that the Prime Minister had presided over “13 months of sleaze, shame and scandal” and warned that he is “putting the very standards that underpin our democracy to the shredder”.

She argued that those who rejected the “cross-party proposals” would be “complicit”, calling on Conservative backbenchers to support the motion rather than voting with the government to “save the skin of a rogue Prime Minister”.

“The last Labour government did not hesitate to act decisively to clean up British public life and Labour’s independent integrity and ethics commission will bring this current farce to an end and clean up politics,” she added.

The motion tabled by Labour in the opposition day debate this afternoon came after the Prime Minister amended the rules so that those found to have breached the ministerial code can apologise or temporarily lose pay rather than resign.

Following the amendment, an updated version of the code states that, if a breach has been found to have occurred, “where the Prime Minister retains his confidence in the minister, available sanctions include requiring some form of public apology, remedial action, or removal of ministerial salary for a period”.

Minister Michael Ellis today claimed that the government “fully recognises the importance of the ministerial code and its role in maintaining standards in public life” and described accusations that Johnson had weakened it as “fake news”.

Johnson has been investigated by the police and the civil service in relation to his breaching the Covid rules implemented during the pandemic. The Prime Minister is also due to be investigated by the Commons privileges committee over claims that he misled parliament over the partygate scandal.

“I’m proud of our British values and the community I come from. We all are. But the conduct of this Prime Minister undermines those values,” the deputy Labour leader told parliament this afternoon.

“Rigging the rules that he himself is under investigation for breaching. Downgrading standards, debasing the principles of public life before our very eyes. There’s nothing decent about the way that he has acted.”

She said Johnson had “tested our unwritten constitution to its limit” and the government had “allowed standards in Britain to wither on the vine” while he “continues to appoint himself as the judge and jury on ministerial misconduct”.

Conservative MPs took part in a confidence vote in the Prime Minister’s leadership on Monday evening following months of speculation since reports of Johnson breaking Covid public health restrictions first emerged. Johnson won by 211 votes to 148. 41% of Conservative MPs voted to remove Johnson from office.

The Prime Minister described the result as “extremely good”, claiming that it would allow the government to put the ‘partygate’ scandal behind it and focus on “what we as a government are doing to help people”.

Keir Starmer said it was “grotesque” that Conservative MPs had voted to back Johnson, describing the party as “divided” and “propping up Boris Johnson with no plan to tackle the issues facing you and your family”.