Ahead of the vote today on whether to refer the Prime Minister for investigation by the Committee of Privileges following his repeated lies on Partygate, North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan has written to 50 Blue Wall Tory MPs. These MPs have slim majorities and are vulnerable to a public backlash over their support for Boris Johnson.
The vote this afternoon will be on a motion that refers Boris Johnson to the Committee of Privileges for misleading the house over partygate. The motion tabled by Labour is also signed by the leaders of the SNP, Plaid Cymru. Lib Dem, Green, Social Democratic and Labour parties, and the deputy leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland. The motion says the committee “shall not begin substantive consideration of the matter until the inquiries currently being conducted by the Metropolitan Police have been concluded.” However, a Tory amendment tabled by Paymaster General Michael Ellis and Leader of the House Mark Spencer defers any decision on whether to refer Johnson to the Committee of Privileges until the police inquiry has concluded.
In the letter, Helen Morgan said:
This week marks five months since I won the North Shropshire by-election in the wake of a Conservative party drowning in sleaze and scandal.
It is sad to see your party has learnt nothing since then.
The power is in your hands. You have the numbers to stop this stitch-up. So what will it be: sleaze and scandal? Or decency and integrity?
The writing is on the wall for the Conservative party – your constituents will not be taken for granted.
The public expects MPs to carry out their patriotic duty tomorrow. British democracy is being dragged through the mud. You cannot prop up this sham of a Prime Minister any longer.
Our country desperately needs leadership right now, instead we have a law-breaking and lying Prime Minister. Now is the time to act.
It looks like the Conservatives have learnt nothing from the political earthquake in North Shropshire in December.
The public won't stomach another stitch up. Conservative MPs mustn't let Boris Johnson of the hook for his lies. pic.twitter.com/MfpKlByUQo
— Helen Morgan MP 🔶 (@HelenMorganMP) April 20, 2022
'This is all about holding the PM to account.'
Amid reports that the govt will try and delay the vote over whether a Commons Committee should investigate whether the PM misled parliament, leader of the Liberal Democrats Sir Ed Davey explains why there needs to be an inquiry. pic.twitter.com/dIpRxfpJJH
— Good Morning Britain (@GMB) April 21, 2022
Helen Morgan spoke yesterday to BBC Radio Shropshire. She said the real issue is that Boris Johnson has lied to the Commons and she does not buy the argument that he didn’t know he was breaking the law.
* Andy Boddington is a Lib Dem councillor in Shropshire. He blogs at andybodders.co.uk.
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2 Comments
Well done to Helen, that was a terrific interview she gave to BBC Radio Shropshire.
Good letter Helen.
Perhaps time for us to start a rollcall of which Tory MPs are actually calling for Johnson to go and which are still supporting scandal and sleaze in the Tory joint enterprise of saving Johnson’s skin? – which of course means they think lying to parliament is OK.
So our local MP Caroline Nokes (Romsey and Southampton North) part of the Tory southern ‘blue wall’ which was LibDem from 2000-2010 sent a letter expressing no confidence in Johnson to the Chair of the 1922 Committee some time ago and reiterated in our local newspaper, Romsey Advertiser April 15th, that this remains her position-Johnson has to go.