The House of Commons privileges committee is fixated on Boris Johnson. No sooner did we breathe sighs of relief as he disappeared over the horizon three weeks ago, than the committee has hauled him back for another thrashing in the headlines.
This time it is aiming at his “friends and allies”, who called it a kangaroo court and a witch-hunt. These friends stand accused for their vociferous and unprecedented remarks, offending, harassing, belittling and showering the committee with contempt. It has duly “named” them, though to what end is unclear.
Everyone knew their names. We were fed up with Nadine Dorries, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Priti Patel and assorted peers, all honoured by Johnson, desperately defending him as the committee’s hearings into Partygate dragged on. They argued, in private and in public, that Partygate was not the most earth-shattering of offences for which Johnson might reasonably have been condemned. No one died. He grovelled, apologised profusely, and returned to business. He said he did not “intentionally” deceive MPs because, like Don Giovanni, he genuinely thought he was telling the truth at the time.
Critics of the committee, who extend beyond Johnson’s friends, also point out that prime ministers distort, befuddle and deceive at the dispatch box week after week. Attacking them is the job of the opposition, which it also does week after week. Must all statements at the dispatch box now be subject to a Commons inquiry? If this committee’s job is to protect the good name and reputation of the house, why has it been so silent on corruption, conflicts of interest, dodgy aides and fiddled expenses?
In sum, the case against the committee’s latest intervention is that is being absurdly oversensitive. It is surely a right of MPs to express a view on a matter that had long reduced the hothouse of national politics to a frenzy. Surely we can get over it and move on.
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