Rishi Sunak will skip vote on Boris Johnson parties dossier

The former British PM’s allies prepare to claim his punishment leaves ministers vulnerable to the same treatment.

Boris Johnson on his morning run last week. Picture: Getty Images

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to skip a vote to condemn Boris Johnson overnight on Monday as the former PM’s allies prepare to claim his punishment leaves ministers vulnerable to the same treatment.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said on Sunday he disagreed with the 90-day suspension the privileges committee would have imposed on Mr Johnson had he still been an MP and said he would abstain at Monday’s vote.

Most other ministers are expected to stay away as Mr Sunak tries to move on and call an end to Mr Johnson’s frontline career. However, the former prime minister still harbours hopes of a comeback after the next election, and polling for The Times suggest he remains more popular than Mr Sunak with the voters who handed the Conservatives an 80-seat majority.

Mr Johnson is a deeply polarising figure and among voters as a whole is considered a bad prime minister by 61 per cent, with a net approval of -39. Mr Sunak’s net approval is -23, with 42 per cent saying he is doing a bad job. However, among those who voted Conservative in 2019, Mr Johnson does significantly better, with net approval of +14, compared with +7 for Mr Sunak, according to the YouGov poll of 2072 adults last Thursday and Friday.

Labour leader Keir Starmer does better than both among voters as a whole, with net approval of -16, rising to +28 among 2019 Labour voters. The latest poll shows Labour 19 percentage points ahead of the Tories.

MPs overnight on Monday will debate a report from the privileges committee that found Mr Johnson deliberately misled the House of Commons and recommended he be barred from holding the parliamentary pass given to ex-MPs.

Mr Gove said parts of the report were “excellent work” and showed “there are clear areas where the actions of Boris Johnson as prime minister fall short of what should have been expected”. But he told the BBC: “I don’t agree with the conclusion, however … the decision to impose a 90-day penalty is not merited by the evidence.”

Mr Gove said he was not encouraging other MPs to abstain, but most ministers and many other Tory MPs are expected to do so. Mr Sunak is likely to cite a visit by the Swedish Prime Minister as a reason for missing the debate. Johnson allies say the report “leaves ministers vulnerable to the same treatment by the privileges committee … everyone is now watching and waiting for whom Labour refers next”.

Although Mr Johnson has signalled he is not pressing supporters to vote against the report, some MPs are expected to make similar points in the Commons. While cabinet ministers rejected claims from Mr Johnson’s camp that they would speak in his favour, some in government share his concerns.

One minister called the report “the best thing that has ever happened to (Sir Keir) … All Labour’s Christmases have come at once. The problem many colleagues have with the report is that it sets a new parliamentary precedent for unknowingly misleading the House, which could bring down many more ministers”. Another Johnson ally said the report “wrecks the whole ethics system for the Commons because they have gone so far over the top”, saying it would “trivialise” sex offences or financial misconduct that attract lesser punishments.

“Other governments will rue this decision as it will quickly become bigger than Boris Johnson – the precedent is there,” the ally said, adding: “Why would we not adopt a similar partisan attitude to these questions (when Labour are in government)? That’s the poison this episode is unlocking.”

A Labour Party spokesman said: “The only person responsible for Boris Johnson’s disgrace and departure is Boris Johnson.”

THE TIMES