Boris Johnson U-turns on partygate vote

MPs are now likely to pass the motion referring Boris Johnson to a privileges committee inquiry into whether he misled parliament after the government dropped its opposition. Now, Conservative MPs have a free vote and are on a one-line whip, with their party whips instructing them that the Prime Minister is ‘happy for the Commons to decide on any referrals to the Privilege Committee’ and that they are not going to move the amendment they tabled trying to delay the entire thing until the publication of the Sue Gray report.

There was a hope in No. 10 that there would not even be a vote and it could just be nodded through if Labour decided not to press the issue. The thinking – at the very last minute – was that this at least would take some of the pressure and drama out of today. But that’s unlikely, given Keir Starmer has just suggested in the Commons that it is important there is a vote and that MPs have nowhere to hide on their position.

This is a reflection of the miscalculation and chaos within the Prime Minister’s operation. Conservative backbenchers (and ministers, for that matter) were deeply worried that Labour was going to exploit them voting against an investigation in campaign literature for the next few years.

They were still unhappy with the government amendment, even though it would allow them to argue that they had in fact backed an investigation. In private conversations between whips and Tory MPs, it had become clear that the sheer number of abstentions would be so great that the Prime Minister would appear to lack authority simply from that, even if no Tories actually voted for the opposition motion.

The debate is now underway and is proving to be extraordinary in many ways. At the start, the Speaker made clear that MPs would be able to refer to Johnson as a ‘liar’ – something that is normally banned in the Chamber as unparliamentary – in the context of the question of whether he misled the House. But they cannot make wider judgments on the integrity of the Prime Minister or any of his colleagues. SNP leader Ian Blackford, who has previously been thrown out of the Commons for using such language, has already made full use of it. What was more striking about him using the normally prohibited word was that the smattering of Tory MPs in the Commons (many of them have been told to go home) barely raised an objection.

Once again, it appears that Johnson has asked too much of his MPs – and has only latterly realised that. I have been struck in discussions with Tory backbenchers who have publicly been supportive how frustrated and resigned they are, not just about this row getting much worse, but also to the party having little chance to recover its reputation before the next election, given the wider problems in the economy and health service.