Hell hath no fury like a select committee scorned. Fresh from chastising Boris Johnson, the Privileges Committee has now turned its guns on the Tory MPs who vociferously backed him during their investigation. The seven-strong panel has identified eight Boris backers who interfered with their 14-month long probe into whether or not Johnson lied to the House. They are: Nadine Dorries, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Brendan Clarke-Smith, Andrea Jenkyns, Mark Jenkinson, Priti Patel, Michael Fabricant and Lord Goldsmith.
All of the aforementioned eight were criticised for posting tweets, or giving comments to the media, that represented, in the committee’s words, ‘some of the most disturbing examples of the co-ordinated campaign to interfere with’ its inquiry. ‘We have not catalogued every tweet or TV appearance’ says the report ‘but have set out in an annex to this report some of the most disturbing examples of the co-ordinated campaign.’ Examples include Rees-Mogg and Dorries attacking the Privileges Committee on their TV shows, Jenkyns calling it a ‘kangaroo court’ and Clarke-Smith labelling it a ‘parliamentary witch-hunt which would put a banana republic to shame.’
The report by the committee claims that ‘this unprecedented and co-ordinated pressure did not affect the conduct or outcome of our inquiry. However, it had significant personal impact on individual members and raised significant security concerns.’ It also criticises Lords Cruddas and Greenhalgh – both of whom were ennobled by Johnson and who now run the Conservative Democratic Organisation. Their online magazine Conservative Post is accused of instigating an email campaign urging those members to stand aside from the committee and alleging that the inquiry was ‘deeply flawed, biased and unfair.’ The Committee now wants the Commons to pass a motion to back them up. Should make for an interesting debate on the floor of the House…
Below are the ‘dirty dozen’ of the examples of thought crime, as identified by the panel…
15 June 2023, Nadine Dorries MP, Twitter: ‘We also need to keep a close eye on the careers of the Conservative MPs who sat on that committee. Do they suddenly find themselves on chicken runs into safe seats? Gongs? Were promises made? We need to know if they were. Justice has to be seen to be done at all levels of this process.’
9 June 2023 Lord Goldsmith, Twitter: In retweeting a tweet calling the inquiry a witch hunt and kangaroo court, stated: ‘Exactly this. There was only ever going to be one outcome and the evidence was totally irrelevant to it.’
9 June 2023 Mark Jenkinson MP, Twitter: ‘When the witch hunt has been forgotten, future generations will look back in astonishment.’
9 June 2023 Michael Fabricant MP, Twitter: ‘Serious questions will need to be asked about the manner in which the investigation was conducted. These were no jurists as was apparent by the tone of the examination. The question of calibre, malice and prejudice will need to be answered now or by historians.’
9 June 2023 Brendan Clarke-Smith MP, Twitter: ‘Tonight we saw the end result of a parliamentary witch-hunt which would put a banana republic to shame. It is the people of this country who elect and decide on their MPs. It’s called democracy and we used to value it here. Sadly this no longer appears to be the case.’
23 March 2023, Nadine Dorries MP, Talk TV: ‘I don’t think there was ever a world in which this committee was going to find Boris innocent. The committee have demonstrated very clearly that they have decided early on to find him guilty. The Committee knew that they had not a shred of evidence to prove that he misled with intent. They changed the rules, lowered the bar and inserted the vague term reckless into the terms of reference. Boris Johnson will be found guilty by this kangaroo court. There is no doubt about that and that in itself will be a disgraceful and possibly unlawful conclusion with serious reputational consequences.’
22 March 2023, Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, BBC Radio 4: ‘Asked whether he shared the view expressed by some of Mr Johnson’s supporters that the process was a kangaroo court, said: ‘I think it makes kangaroo courts look respectable.’
21 March 2023 Andrea Jenkyns MP, Twitter: ‘I hope to see him fully exonerated and to put an end to this kangaroo court.’
20 March 2023, Jacob Rees-Mogg MP, GB News: ‘The privileges committee is not even a proper legal setup. It has a gossamer of constitutional propriety thrown over it, but it is in fact a political committee against Boris Johnson.’
16 March 2023, Priti Patel MP, GB News: ‘How can a handful of Members of Parliament in a Committee, you know, really be that objective in light of some of the individual comments that have been made. I don’t want to name people, but you know, it is a fact, the lack of transparency– the lack of accountability… I think there is a culture of collusion quite frankly involved here.’
3 March 2023, Nadine Dorries MP, Twitter: ‘They have nothing. He protested his innocence all along and he was right. It was a gross miscarriage of justice, at the very least…’
1 September 2022, Nadine Dorries MP, Daily Mail: ‘This expert legal opinion shows that the inquiry was a biased, Kafkaesque witchhunt – it should now be halted before it does any more damage.’
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