The Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has just confirmed that MPs will be able to debate a motion on whether Boris Johnson misled parliament over whether Covid laws were broken in Downing Street. Lindsay Hoyle said that Keir Starmer will be able to table the motion for debate on Thursday, but it is not clear yet what that motion will be. Indeed, Hoyle was very careful to say that he has no jurisdiction over the Ministerial Code and whether Johnson has broken it – or indeed whether the Prime Minister has committed a contempt.
Hoyle was very careful to say that he has no jurisdiction over the Ministerial Code and whether Johnson has broken it
So we know that MPs will be debating Johnson’s conduct and the consequences of that on Thursday morning. But we do not know whether Labour will go for a motion that states the Prime Minister is in contempt of parliament or whether it will call for a referral to the privileges committee for an investigation.
The second option would drag out the process but such a delay would have the benefit of being able to take in the ongoing police investigation and the conclusion of Sue Gray’s report into what happened. Currently, Johnson is responding only to one fine from the Met and that has the benefit of being something his allies can dissemble over, turning it into a row about whether other public servants were stopping briefly to eat cake or even have a drink in the course of their work during lockdown.
Johnson is encouraging Tory MPs to ask him anything about the fine when he speaks to them later, but there are still other events under investigation and after that, there is the Sue Gray report. So even if the debate on Thursday turns out – as most in parliament expect – to be a very vigorously-whipped occasion in which Johnson’s parliamentary majority frustrates the opposition’s efforts, this will not be the end of the matter. Hoyle will likely have to make similar rulings in the coming months.
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