London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 24, 2025

Authority of Boris Johnson damaged as own MPs say ‘gig’s up’

William Wragg, Tory chair of Commons’ constitutional affairs committee, states ‘no confidence’ in PM

Boris Johnson suffered humiliating blows to his authority after MPs backed a formal investigation to look at whether he lied to parliament, and senior party figures made new calls for him to resign.

The prime minister will now be investigated by a Commons committee over claims he misled MPs about lockdown parties – a potential resigning matter under the ministerial code.

The move came after the government tried to delay the inquiry only to make a U-turn hours later amid a backlash.

Speaking during a Commons debate after chaotic scenes in Westminster, the former Brexit minister Steve Baker, an influential figure among Conservatives, said he was appalled by Johnson’s private attitude towards the fine he had received for breaches of Covid rules and said the prime minister “now should be long gone”.

Others made clear that they had told Tory whips they would not block or delay a new Partygate inquiry.

The Guardian can reveal that the former health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, told constituents he had warned whips he would not support moves to delay the inquiry.

Hunt said in an email to constituents that he found the fines issued to Johnson and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, “shocking and disappointing”. “We will also now see the privileges committee investigate whether parliament was lied to,” he wrote. “I made it clear to the government that I would not have supported any move to delay such an investigation had we been asked to. But in the end thankfully, we were not.”

He said he would not make a final judgment until the end of the process but did not believe now was the “best time” to change prime minister. While other prime ministers had been removed in wartime, “in this situation we only have to ask ourselves, would Vladimir Putin be happy to see a two-month leadership contest in Britain?” Hunt added.

The turbulence in Westminster threatened to overshadow the prime minister’s trade trip to India, where he toured Ahmedabad as MPs debated his political future for four hours on the floor of the Commons.

Minutes before the debate about whether to refer Johnson to the privileges committee, government whips pulled their amendment – tabled on Wednesday evening – that would have delayed any vote on the investigation until after the final Sue Gray Partygate report was published.

The Labour motion was passed on Thursday although the privileges committee investigation will not begin for weeks or months, once the police and Gray inquiries are complete.

Johnson’s press secretary, speaking during a trip to India, sought to suggest the prime minister was relaxed about being referred to the privileges committee, with “no concerns”.

At the Commons debate, William Wragg, chair of the Commons’ constitutional affairs committee, said he had written a letter of no confidence in the prime minister and that he would have rebelled if the government had not withdrawn its amendment.

He said: “We have been working in a toxic atmosphere. The parliamentary party bears the scars of misjudgments of leadership. There can be few colleagues on this side of the house, I would contend, who are truly enjoying being members of parliament at the moment. It is utterly depressing to be asked to defend the indefensible. Each time part of us withers.”

Steve Baker had previously told the Commons he had been prepared to forgive Johnson but said that the PM’s bullish approach to the fines, in a private meeting of the 1922 meeting of backbenchers this week, had changed his mind. He said Johnson’s contrition “only lasted as long as it took to get out of the headmaster’s study”.

Baker added: “I have to say I’m sorry, that for not obeying the letter and spirit – and I think we have heard that the prime minister did know what the letter was – the prime minister now should be long gone. I’ll certainly vote for this motion. But really, the prime minister should just know the gig’s up.”

Bob Neill, who chairs the justice committee, stopped short of calling for Johnson to go but said he had planned to abstain on the Labour motion.

“I am profoundly disappointed in what happened at No 10. People were badly let down, my constituents feel badly let down, I feel personally badly let down and there must be consequences that follow from that,” he said.

The Conservative MP Anthony Mangnall said he could not forgive Johnson for misleading the Commons. “I do forgive the prime minister for making those mistakes but I do not forgive him for misleading the house, as I see it.”

Tobias Ellwood, the Tory chair of the Commons defence committee, who has already called for the prime minister to go, tweeted that it was time for his colleagues “to stop drinking the Kool Aid”.

Opening the debate, the Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, said it was imperative for MPs to judge if Johnson had deliberately misled them with his denials of Partygate lockdown breaches in Downing Street.

Starmer said: “He has stood before this house and said things that are not true, safe in the knowledge that he will not be accused of lying. He has stood at that dispatch box and point blank denied rule-breaking took place, when it did.

“As he did so, he was hoping to gain extra protection from our assumption, and from the public assumption, that no prime minister would deliberately mislead the house. He has used our good faith to cover up his misdeeds.”


Speaking to reporters on his trade visit to India, Johnson said he had reversed his position on the amendment because he had “nothing to hide” but appeared irritated at Labour’s determination to continue pressing the issue.

“People were saying it looks like we are trying to stop stuff. I didn’t want that. I didn’t want people to be able to say that. I don’t want this thing to endlessly go on,” he told Sky News. “But, I have absolutely nothing, frankly, to hide. If that is what the opposition want to talk about, that is fine.”

Asked about Baker’s call for him to resign, Johnson said: “I understand people’s feelings. I don’t think that is the right thing to do.” He conceded the situation was serious, however.

On Wednesday Tory whips had scrambled to find a way to block or delay the inquiry by the privileges committee. But MPs had privately and publicly asked whips not to give Labour the opportunity to paint them as taking part in a cover-up.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
×