Did the privileges committee really need to bother with a report scolding a number of Boris Johnson’s supporters for what it has called a ‘co-ordinated campaign of interference’ in its work?
Today it has published its verdict on seven MPs and one peer, Lord Goldsmith. This special report finds ‘disturbing’ examples of behaviour designed to pressure, intimidate and undermine the committee. None of these examples took place within the Commons, as the Speaker had made a ruling against abuse of the committee. Instead, the report says, there was a ‘campaign waged outside parliament’ which ‘used newspapers and radio and there was extensive use of social media’.
Discipline isn’t about ignoring small patterns and only responding when something dreadful happens
This behaviour did not affect the outcome of the committee’s inquiry, but ‘it had a significant personal impact on individual members and raised significant security concerns’. Some of the most important examples, in the committee’s view, include Nadine Dorries arguing on TalkTV that the committee was always going to find Johnson guilty and that the Conservative members of the committee might find their careers would benefit from punishing Johnson.
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