Today has been a double blow to Boris Johnson. First, he now faces an investigation by the Privileges Committee into whether he deliberately misled the house when he said that the Covid rules were followed in Downing Street. At the very least, this means that this story – which is exhausting Tory MPs – won’t end with the publication of the Gray report. Second, the U-turn has shown that Tory MPs aren’t prepared to go all in on defending Johnson.
Most Tory MPs will keep their counsel until after the local elections next month
The new whipping operation has generally received positive reviews from Tory MPs. But the amendment it put down last night misread the mood of the parliamentary party. A large number of Tory MPs didn’t want to do something that would make it very easy for their opponents to attack them for trying to stymie an investigation into what happened.
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