Tory MPs want to strike a deal with Boris Johnson to leave parliament in return for dropping the inquiry into whether he lied to them about Partygate, as the prime minister’s allies branded it a “witch hunt”.
Although he is due to leave No 10 in less than a month, there is still a Commons privilege committee inquiry into the Prime Minister’s initial denials in December last year that any Covid laws were broken during the blockage
Some of Johnson’s critics want him to resign as an MP, to prevent the process from keeping the focus on a deeply embarrassing issue for the party that has strained relations among his peers.
The inquiry, which is being led by a committee with a Tory majority that chose Labour’s Harriet Harman to chair it, is expected to drag on for months.
The committee has demanded a raft of evidence, including Johnson’s diaries covering the 12 days when parties were held in Westminster in defiance of Covid rules, as well as emails, WhatsApp messages, photographs, internal memos and a list of deleted documents
If Johnson is found to have misled parliament, he could face suspension from the Commons and a recall petition, which, if signed by 10% of his constituents in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, would trigger a by-election.
Unlike when Tory MPs were whipped into saving Owen Paterson, which led to unrest in party ranks over the scandal and scandal, some of Johnson’s fiercest Tory opponents said they would be happy to end to the Partygate inquiry if Johnson were to stand down as an MP.
One source said: “I think there is a case, not just for the Parliament party but for everyone, that we just move on from this psychodrama.”
The “quid pro quo” for supporting a motion that would effectively end the investigation would be for Johnson to “walk out of the Commons,” they added.
Another Tory MP who helped oust Johnson said if the incoming prime minister decided to spare Johnson’s fate by moving a motion in the Commons to end the investigation and sought the support of his peers, “that’s fine”.
“I see that the profit from him was satisfactory,” they said. “The primary political objective has been achieved. It depends on whether our next leader wants to continue this internecine war in the Tory party or simply take the hit.”
If Johnson resigned as an MP, by-elections would be triggered. He won the West London seat in 2019 with a majority of just 7,210. As the Tories have not held a poll lead since December 2021 and have lost a number of safe Tory seats over the past year, keeping Uxbridge and South Ruislip would not be a certainty.
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One of Johnson’s closest allies, the culture secretary, Nadine Dorries, insisted she would stay in politics, but suggested the privileges committee inquiry should end anyway.
“If this witch hunt continues, it will be the most egregious abuse of power witnessed in Westminster,” he tweeted on Sunday. “It will cast serious doubt not only on the reputation of individual MPs sitting on the committee, but on the processes of parliament and democracy itself.”
Dorries also accused the seven MPs behind the inquiry of operating a “kangaroo court” and said Johnson had been “brutally removed”.
He called on fellow supporters of the outgoing prime minister to rally behind Liz Truss, the front-runner in the Tory leadership race.
Asked what Johnson would do next, Dorries told the Sunday Express: “Boris is absolutely going to stay in politics. You’re not getting rid of Boris.”
Zac Goldsmith, another Johnson ally who the prime minister did the same when he lost his seat in 2019, said the Partygate investigation was “clearly rigged”.
“It’s a jury made up of very partisan, vindictive and vindictive MPs, almost all of whom are already on record viciously attacking the person they judge,” he tweeted. “It’s an obscene abuse of power.”
Tory MP Bill Cash has drawn up a motion calling for the inquiry to be scrapped, saying it is “unnecessary” given Johnson’s departure from Downing Street in early September.
Chris Bryant, a Labor MP who resigned from chairing the inquiry after publicly criticizing Johnson, said he was “not aware of any historic case where a privilege inquiry was abandoned”.
“Arguing for it to be dropped shows an extraordinary degree of complicity in Johnson’s misconduct and a very casual attitude towards standards and truth-telling in parliament,” he said. “If the government brings a motion to repeal, the Tories will again nail Johnson’s stick.”
A privilege committee spokesman said the inquiry was being conducted properly and denied there had been any changes to the rules or terms of reference.
They said a senior secretary prepared a background paper on whether Johnson could be held in contempt of parliament, all of which “are strictly politically impartial”.
They added that advice had been received from former Court of Appeal judge Sir Ernest Ryder, which was published for transparency.