Boris Johnson Q&A: why report into misleading parliament still matters, even after he resigned as an MP

• The committee concluded that were he still an MP, he should be suspended for 90 days.
• But since Johnson resigned upon seeing a draft of the report, he will not serve the suspension.

What is the privileges committee?

The House of Commons Committee of Privileges is composed of MPs from the three largest parties in parliament. Its role is to uphold ethical conduct in the House of Commons alongside the Committee on Standards.

What was Johnson accused of and why does it matter now he is no longer prime minister?

• The principle accusation against Johnson is that he misled the House of Commons in relation to gatherings held in Downing Street while pandemic lockdowns were in place.
• Over the course of the partygate scandal, Johnson made numerous statements to the House of Commons about what he did or didn’t know and what he did and didn’t do.
• Importantly, from the outset of its investigations the committee adopted an expansive definition which did not require direct proof of Johnson having lied.

Why is misleading parliament such a serious matter?

• Misleading the house is treated exceptionally seriously because of the centrality of ministerial accountability to parliament within the uncodified British constitution.
• Privilege is the mechanism which shields debate in parliament from the restrictions on free speech that apply to ordinary citizens so that MPs can speak freely.
• It also guarantees parliament the right to determine its own processes and procedures free from interference from the judicial and executive branches of government.

Would the report have forced Johnson out of the House of Commons?

Johnson resigned before the committee even published its report, claiming he was being forced out. But the report could not have done this on its own. The committee proposed suspending Johnson from parliament for 90 days, which would have triggered the provisions of the 2015 Recall of MPs Act. This would have given people in his parliamentary constituency the right to sign a petition to oust him.

Is a 90-day suspension longer than average?

• The 90-day suspension Johnson was to serve is much longer than the most often commonly imposed sanction over the years, which has been a five-day suspension – not long enough to trigger a recall.
• However it is still lower than the six-month suspension handed to Labour MP Keith Vaz in 2019 after he admitted to buying drugs from sex workers.