Downing Street staff ready to give party testimonies against Boris Johnson

The prospect of the former PM becoming bogged down by an inquiry if he were to win the leadership is weighing on Tory MPs.

Boris Johnson after landing at Gatwick Airport on Saturday. Picture: Reuters

No.10 officials are preparing to testify against Boris Johnson in the parliamentary inquiry into Downing Street parties.

The privileges committee is to begin hearings early next month – by which stage Mr Johnson would be back in No.10 if he stands for and wins the Tory leadership.

It means the early portion of Mr Johnson’s second period in office would risk being dominated by questions about the saga that helped end his first stint.

The House of Commons unanimously passed a motion in April to set up the investigation by the cross-party committee, which has a Conservative majority.

If the committee finds Mr Johnson was in contempt of parliament in his dispatch box statements about parties, it could recommend he be suspended from the Commons – raising questions about his ability to conduct the business of being prime minister during that period.

The committee will begin hearing evidence next month and is likely to hold public sessions three times a week. Mr Johnson will be called to give evidence, as well as being given the opportunity to respond to the testimony of other witnesses. One well-placed source said: “November will see maybe 40 hours of oral evidence. Partygate will be front and centre again.”

Another source said the committee had been taken aback by the number of witnesses who wanted to testify, including serving and former Downing Street staff. If serving officials testify and Mr Johnson wins the leadership, it would raise the possibility of the prime minister’s own staff giving evidence that he misled MPs about the parties.

Some of the witnesses could testify privately, with their identities never disclosed, under the rules established by the committee, chaired by Harriet Harman, the former Labour deputy leader. Any allegations made anonymously would be shared with Mr Johnson for him to respond.

Downing Street has handed over documents, emails, pictures and messages to the committee. A source with knowledge of the evidence told The Sun: “Boris is screwed.”

The prospect of Mr Johnson becoming bogged down by the inquiry is weighing on Tory MPs. One MP who has not decided which candidate to support said: “How can we have a new leader who is about to have months of privileges committee hearings?”

The investigation could be stopped only by a majority vote of the House of Commons, but Mr Johnson may be unable to persuade enough MPs to support him.

One MP who backed Rishi Sunak, in part because of the privileges investigation, told The Times: “He (Johnson) remains mired in scandal. The only way he gets out of it is by a vote and he won’t win.”

Another Sunak supporter predicted Mr Johnson would whip the Tories to disband the investigation and lose, meaning “the quickest route to a general election is Boris”.

The Times