MP NADHIM Zahawi is being called on to support a motion in parliament endorsing the Privileges Committee’s judgement on Boris Johnson.
Manuela Perteghella, Stratford’s Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate, has called on the Stratford Conservative MP to support the motion against the former prime minister when it goes to a vote in parliament on Monday (June 19).
It comes after the Privileges Committee recommended that, if Mr Johnson were still MP, he be suspended for 90 days for “deliberately misleading” parliament over ‘partygate’. The term refers to allegations Mr Johnson threw lockdown-breaking parties at Downing Street and at Chequers, the prime ministerial country retreat, during the pandemic, including a ‘bring your own booze’ garden party in May 2020.
Mr Johnson stepped down as MP last week.
The Liberal Democrats said voting against the motion would be “an insult to bereaved families who grieved alone while Boris Johnson partied.”
Ms Perteghella continued: “This report is completely unprecedented. Never before has a former British prime minister been found to have lied to parliament and treated the public with such contempt.
“Nadhim Zahawi needs to examine his conscience and confirm he will vote for the motion. Anything less would be an insult to bereaved families in Stratford who grieved alone while Boris Johnson lied and partied.
“The Conservative Party is now in a full blown civil war, while people struggle to afford to pay their mortgage or get a GP appointment. It’s time that Conservative MPs stopped fighting among themselves and focused on tackling the problems facing the country, from the NHS crisis to the cost of living.”
The Privileges Committee report found Mr Johnson to have committed five serious offences – deliberately misleading the Commons. deliberately misleading the privileges committee, breaching confidence (by leaking part of the report in advance), “impugning” the committee and thus parliamentary processes, and complicity in a “campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation of the committee”.
Mr Johnson said back in December last year while still prime minister that he had been “repeatedly assured since these allegations emerged that there was no party and that no Covid rules were broken”.
Mr Zahawi was approached for comment.
