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Boris Johnson (having had sight of the report by the Commons Privileges Committee on his conduct concerning Covid regulations) called it a ‘kangaroo court’ and left parliament immediately; to be disqualified as an MP he was appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer as Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds of Stoke, Desborough and Burnham. His majority at Uxbridge and South Ruislip, where there will now be a by-election, was 7,210. ‘Most members of the Committee – especially the chair – had already expressed deeply prejudicial remarks about my guilt before they had even seen the evidence,’ he said, adding: ‘I am not alone in thinking that there is a witch hunt under way, to take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result.’
Mr Johnson also blamed Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, for blocking eight nominations for peerages that he’d made on leaving office as prime minister. They had been referred in the usual way to the House of Lords Appointments Commission, which said: ‘Eight nominees were not supported by the commission.’ Two of these nominees triggered two more by-elections by leaving parliament: Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty (with a majority of 20,137), who left by being appointed Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead, and Nadine Dorries, MP for Mid-Bedfordshire (with a majority of 24,664), whose appointment to a Crown office to get her out of the Commons was delayed.
Nicola Sturgeon, from 2014 to 2023 first minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National party, was arrested by police investigating the party’s finances. She was released without charge after seven and a quarter hours helping police with their inquiries, which continued. SNP MSPs sent her some flowers ‘as a mark of sympathy’.
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