Boris Johnson will be probed by a House of Commons committee after MPs voted on Thursday whether the British prime minister misled Parliament about attending illegal parties in Downing Street during the coronavirus lockdown.
Westminster MPs shouted aye for the Parliament's Committee of Privileges to investigate whether the UK prime minister knowingly misled Parliament.
Defending Johnson in the Commons during the debate, UK Cabinet Office Minister Michael Ellis said the UK Prime Minister did not mislead the Commons but made comments about partygate revelations "in good faith".
He added that the prime minister “has always been clear that he is happy to face whatever inquiries Parliament sees fit”.
This is the third investigation Johnson will face.
“He has responded to the event for which he has received a fixed-penalty notice,” Ellis said.
Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner reiterated her party's call for the PM to resign, telling MPs that “the prime minister is leading the Conservative Party into the sewer”.
Urging MPs to support an investigation, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said, “The public won't stomach another Conservative stitch-up that drags our democracy through the mud just to protect one of their own”.
Johnson faces criticism from his party members, with two Conservative MPs, including the influential Steve Baker calling for the PM to step down. Conservative MPs, on the motion tabled on whether or not to conduct the inquiry, were given the option not to vote at all. The motion eventually passed without opposition.
William Wragg, the chair of the Commons’ constitutional affairs committee, said he had written a letter of no confidence in the prime minister and that he would have rebelled if the government had not withdrawn its amendment, the Guardian reported.
“The matter before us is one of the heart of this institution, of our parliament. I love this place, believing it to be a place of high ideals and purpose. What is said here matters,” he added.
Labour leader Keir Starmer, who opened the debate said, it was exigent for MPs to judge whether Johnson has deliberately misled the parliament when he denied partygate breaching lockdown protocol in Downing Street. MPs belonging to the Conservative party tried to block the inquiry by the privileges committee.
--With PTI inputs
