The script of the debate on the conclusions of the ‘Partygate’ report has followed the expected line on Monday. An overwhelming majority of 354 deputies, including many conservatives, have shown their privilege committee supportwhich concluded that the former prime minister Boris Johnson deliberately lied to the House by denying that lockdown rules were being breached at the many parties held in Downing Street during the pandemic. The approval of the report, which has only had seven votes against, implies the withdrawal of Johnson from their right to access Parliament and confirm the symbolic 90 day suspension as a member of the House, which will not be fulfilled after the former prime minister resigned from his position.
Labor MPs they have charged hard against Johnson, who has been blamed for his “irresponsible” and “childish” attitude by not acknowledging the mistakes made and by refusing to apologize to families of the more than 220,000 deaths during the pandemic in the UK. The first to do so was the party’s parliamentary leader, Thangam Debbonairewho has asked members of the Conservative Party to ask themselves what the reaction of families will be before risking “disgrace & rdquor; their constituents by voting against the report.
anti-democratic attacks
The opposition has defended the sanctions proposed by the committee of privileges after Johnson accused his seven members —four of them conservatives— of acting under prejudice and political bias. Some accusations that have been interpreted as a attack on democratic institutions and to the impartiality of those responsible for the investigation, who agreed to increase the suspension to 90 days in response. The chair of the committee, the Labor Harriett Harmanhas justified the sanction by ensuring that the attacks of the former prime minister “they undermine the democratic process of the House & rdquor;.
Support for the committee, which has recognized have suffered pressure to condition their verdict, has also been extended to conservative deputies, who trust to turn the page to the scandal as soon as possible. Among them, former Prime Minister Theresa May, who has thanked the work of its members. “The committee report is important, the debate is important, and the vote is important. If people see us making rules for them and acting like they’re not for us, confidence in Parliament will be undermined& rdquor ;, he has assured.
For their part, some of the Johnson’s closest allies have used the debate to accuse those responsible for the investigation of lack of evidence when drawing their conclusions. The ultraconservative Jacob Rees-Moggone of the staunchest defenders of Brexit and a minister in the Johnson government, has defended the former ‘premier”s attacks on the committee, which he has compared to the “Communist China & rdquor;. “It is absolutely legitimate to criticize the members of the commission. That is politics & rdquor ;, said the conservative deputy after describing the sanction as “vengeful, wild and brutal & rdquor;. Some arguments that few of his conservative colleagues have shared, evidencing the divisions within the party.
absence of Sunak
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The session was marked by the absence of the main members of the Governmentincluding the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has alleged scheduling problems for not attending the Chamber. An absence that has aroused criticism from the opposition but that has saved him have to position yourself publicly in this issue. Voting against the committee’s conclusions would have had a significant impact on his image, while voting in favor would would have faced even more with Johnson and his allies, with whom he has maintained an intense pulse since he caused the fall of the former prime minister.
Sunak’s goal is to turn the page as soon as possible on the ‘Partygate’ scandals to try to come back in some polls that do not smile at the Conservative Party. Something that for now is far from being achieved, after the video of a party organized in december 2020 by members of the campaign of the Conservative candidate for London mayor, shun bailey, who was appointed to the House of Lords just a few days ago at the request of Boris Johnson. Sunak’s first litmus test will be in mid-July, when the by-elections in two of the constituencies that have been left empty after the resignations of recent days, including that of Johnson himself.