The chairman of Parliament’s privileges committee has said it is “absolutely certain” that Boris Johnson will be forced to step down if the multi-party panel finds out he has deceived the commons.
Johnson has resisted calls from Labor and some of his own MPs to resign following Wednesday’s release of the Sue Gray report detailing intoxication parties at 10 Downing Street during the blockade of the United States. coronavirus.
But he now faces an investigation by the Commons Privilege Committee into whether he knowingly cheated when he repeatedly told parliament there were no parties.
And President Chris Bryant said he will be forced to resign if the committee finds that he lied.
Labor MP Bryant, who has withdrawn from the investigation because of his own vocal criticism of the Prime Minister, said the committee could trigger a withdrawal vote in Johnson’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency by recommending the his suspension from the Commons.
“They can force him to resign,” he told Sky News. “I am absolutely sure that if the Privilege Committee decides that the Prime Minister has deceived Parliament and sends a report to the House in this regard, Boris Johnson will still try to hold on, but I would have taken it all by then. respectful member of the House of Commons would vote in favor of any suspension recommended by the committee.
“And if he is suspended from the House, he is out. This is.”
Bryant said the committee could take up to four months to reach its conclusions.
And he insisted that his built-in Conservative majority did not necessarily mean he would wipe the prime minister from the lie.
“There are four Conservative members on the Privileges Commission and I respect them,” he said. “I have absolutely no questions about them. They all want to do a very good job.
“And if this committee – which has a Conservative majority – comes to the conclusion that the Prime Minister has lied to parliament, I am absolutely certain that the Prime Minister will step down and probably leave Parliament.”
A withdrawal request may be activated if the Commons votes in favor of the suspension of a Member on the recommendation of the House Privileges Committee. Elections will be held again if the petition is signed by more than 10 per cent of voters – some 7,000 people in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. The suspended MP is allowed to run in the election to try to keep the seat.
Bryant said Conservative MPs cannot vote to preserve a prime minister who they increasingly see as an electoral responsibility for his party.
“I think there are a lot of people in the Labor Party who have now decided for the Labor Party and for the next general election, let’s keep Boris Johnson,” he said. “I think a lot of voters in the country have decided on a Conservative Party that keeps Boris Johnson, the culprit and the liar, as the leader.
“Two Conservatives I came across in the elevator yesterday on the way to a vote told me, ‘Look, we lost the next general election because the fellow Conservatives will not act against you, even though they have seen it clearly. A pikstaff . “
Despite Johnson’s plea for the country to “move forward” with Partygate, Bryant predicted that the consequences of the scandal would “go on and on”, preventing the prime minister from focusing on issues such as the Ukrainian war and the cost of life. .
“All of these were unforced errors that come from his personality,” he said. “They’ll all be back.”