Boris Johnson denied special access to parliament as MPs endorse report which said he lied
Boris Johnson has been stripped of special access to parliament after MPs endorsed the privileges committee’s report that he lied about parties in Downing Street during the COVID pandemic.
MPs voted by 354 to seven to back the report’s findings.
A total of 118 Conservatives voted for the report, while 225 abstained.
A debate was held in the Commons on Monday afternoon asking MPs to consider the report, which found the former prime minister knowingly misled parliament multiple times with his statements about gatherings in Number 10 during lockdown.
Earlier in the day, there had been uncertainty over whether there would be a vote on the report – but after shouts of “no” were heard in the Chamber, a division was held and a formal vote took place.
A total of eight cabinet ministers backed the privileges committee report, including Justice Secretary Alex Chalk, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, Chief Whip Simon Hart and Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt.
They will be sitting down with their colleagues who did not vote – including Rishi Sunak – for the weekly cabinet meeting in Downing Street on Tuesday morning.
The seven Conservative MPs who voted against the report were Bill Cash, Nick Fletcher, Adam Holloway, Karl McCartney, Joy Morrissey, Desmond Swayne and Heather Wheeler.
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In its damning report, the committee recommended that Mr Johnson should have served a 90-day suspension from the Commons had he not resigned as an MP just days earlier
It also said he should have his right to access parliament as a former MP revoked – a sanction that attracted strong criticism from his supporters.
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‘Who are you?’ Seven MPs reject report
During the debate, a number of Tory MPs rose to their feet to criticise Mr Johnson – including his predecessor Theresa May, who praised the committee for its “rigorous” report.
“It is not easy to sit in judgment on friends and colleagues,” she said, “but friendship, working together, should not get in the way of doing what is right.
“I commend the members of the privileges committee for their painstaking work, and for their dignity in the face of slurs on their integrity. To all the members of the committee, this House should… say thank you for your service.”
Harriet Harman – the Labour chair of the committee whom Mr Johnson accused of conducting a “kangaroo court” – thanked the Conservative members who took part in the probe for their “outstanding dedication and commitment”.
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‘I think that’s a mic-drop Jacob Rees-Mogg’
“They have had to withstand a campaign of threats, intimidation, and harassment designed to challenge the legitimacy of the inquiry, to drive them off the committee and thereby frustrate the intention of the House that this inquiry should be carried out,” she said.
Ms Harman was challenged by Johnson supporter Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, who questioned whether she was appropriate to lead the inquiry given her previous tweets that had been critical of the former prime minister.
But Ms Harman confirmed that she had checked with the government that it was happy for her to chair the committee and had in fact offered to step aside.
“I actually said I am more than happy to step aside because perception matters and I don’t want to do this if the government doesn’t have confidence in me, because I need the whole House of have confidence in the work that the committee has mandated,” she said.
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‘We are all responsible for our actions’
“I was assured that I should continue the work that the House had mandated with the appointment that the House had put me into and so I did just that.”
Elsewhere in his speech, Sir Jacob, who received a knighthood in Mr Johnson’s controversial resignation honours list, said it was “ridiculous” to remove Mr Johnson’s right to access parliament as former MP.
He also denounced the committee’s proposed sanction of a 90-day suspension from parliament as “vindictive”.
He told MPs that it was “absolutely legitimate to criticise the conduct of a committee, to criticise the members of a committee”, adding: “That is politics.”
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Nick Fletcher, the Tory MP for Don Valley, also confirmed he would not vote for the report on the grounds that the country “needs to move on”.
The debate and vote comes after the committee’s damning verdict issued last week, found Mr Johnson guilty of impugning the committee and being complicit in a “campaign of intimidation” against its members.
The former prime minister immediately hit back at what he called a “deranged conclusion” and branded the committee’s report a “charade”, adding its investigation had delivered “what is intended to be the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination”.
Rishi Sunak – who was not present for the debate or vote – was accused of a “cowardly cop-out” by the Liberal Democrats.
Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper MP said his failure to vote “says all you need to know about this prime minister’s lack of leadership”.
“Sunak promised integrity yet when push came to shove, he was too weak to even turn up.”
Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan for Israel to take full military control of the Gaza Strip has been condemned, amid fears a reoccupation could put the lives of Palestinians and the remaining Israeli hostages at risk.
Asked in a Fox News interview on Thursday if Israel would “take control of all of Gaza”, the prime minister replied: “We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza.”
Latest updates from war in Gaza
“We don’t want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter,” he continued. “We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life.”
Israel already controls around 75% of Gaza and has largely sealed its borders.
To take full control, it would need to launch ground operations in the remaining areas that have not been destroyed, where most of Gaza’s two million population have sought refuge.
Israel’s security cabinet, which would need to approve the military operations, began a meeting on Thursday evening, but for now no official announcement has been made.
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Netanyahu on Israel’s plans for Gaza
Plan will ‘put hostages and soldiers in danger’
The plan has been criticised by many, including families of hostages being held by Hamas and a top Israeli Defence Force (IDF) official.
Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, said Mr Netanyahu promised her that he would pursue a deal to free the hostages.
She said in a post on X: “Someone who talks about a comprehensive deal doesn’t go and conquer the Strip and put hostages and soldiers in danger.
“Netanyahu and his partners are about to condemn [Matan] to death.”
Israel’s military chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, has warned against occupying Gaza, saying it would endanger the hostages and put further strain on the IDF, according to Israeli media reports.
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In an illustration of the kind of opposition Israel could face internationally if it purses the plan, a Jordanian official aid Arabs would “only support what Palestinians agree and decide on”.
“Security in Gaza must be done through legitimate Palestinian institutions,” the source said.
“Arabs will not be agreeing to Netanyahu’s policies nor clean his mess.”
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Israeli hostage families sail near Gaza
At least 42 more Palestinians killed by Israeli fire, say hospitals
It comes after at least 42 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals.
At least 13 of those people were seeking aid in an Israeli military zone where UN aid convoys are regularly overwhelmed by desperate crowds and looters.
An Israeli soldier, standing next to an Israeli flag, looks out across Gaza. Pic: Reuters
Another two were killed on roads leading to sites run by the Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.
The GHF said there were no violent incidents at or near its sites on Thursday.
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The war in Gaza began when Hamas killed about 1,200 people – mostly civilians – in its attack on 7 October 2023 and abducted 251 others. They still hold approximately 50 of those hostages – with 20 believed to be alive – after most of the others were released in ceasefires or other deals.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between militants and civilians in its count.
Vladimir Putin has played down the possibility of a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying that while it is possible, certain conditions must be met.
The Russian president was responding to an American proposal of a trilateral meeting between him, the Ukrainian president and Donald Trump.
The idea was floated by Steve Witkoff, the US president’s envoy during talks with Mr Putin on Wednesday, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Mr Ushakov said the three-way option was “simply mentioned by the American representative during the meeting in the Kremlin”.
He added, however: “This option was not specifically discussed.”
On the prospect of meeting Mr Zelenskyy, Vladimir Putin said: “I have already said many times that I have nothing against it in general – it is possible.”
However, he distanced himself from any such meeting happening soon, adding: “But certain conditions must be created for this. Unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions.”
Pic: AP
Mr Zelenskyy offered to speak to Vladimir Putin in May, challenging him to meet in Istanbul for talks on ending the war in Ukraine – an invitation the Russian leader declined.
While a trilateral meeting appears to be off the agenda, Mr Ushakov said an agreement had been reached for Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin to meet “in the coming days”.
After the US president touted a “very good prospect” of the leaders meeting for Ukraine ceasefire talks, Mr Ushakov said on Thursday that Russian and American officials had started working on the details.
“At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement was essentially reached to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days,” he said.
“We are now beginning concrete preparations together with our American colleagues.”
Regarding a trilateral meeting, Mr Ushakov said: “We propose, first of all, to focus on preparing a bilateral meeting with Trump, and we consider it most important that this meeting be successful and productive.”
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Will Putin agree to Trump’s condition to meet Zelenskyy?
It would be the first time the two leaders have met since Mr Trump returned to office, and follows a three-hour meeting between Mr Putin and Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Wednesday.
Following the meeting, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it appeared that Russia was “more inclined to a ceasefire”.
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The Ukrainian president said he planned to speak on Thursday to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as well as contacts from France and Italy.
He said he planned to discuss a ceasefire, a leaders’ summit and long-term security, adding: “Ukraine has never wanted war and will work toward peace as productively as possible.”
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A poll from Gallup suggests 69% of Ukrainians support a negotiated end to the war with Russia – an almost complete reversal from 2022, when 73% favoured fighting until victory.
Most said they were sceptical the war would end soon, with 68% saying they believed it was unlikely that active fighting would stop within the next 12 months.
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Trump vowed to end Ukraine war in first 24 hours of his presidency – nearly 200 days in, could he be close?
Seven hours is a long time in US politics.
At 10am, Donald Trump accused Russia of posing a threat to America’s national security.
By 5pm, Mr Trump said there was a “good prospect” of him meeting Vladimir Putin “soon”.
There had, he claimed, been “great progress” in talks between his special envoy Steve Witkoff and the Russian president.
It’s difficult to gauge the chances of a meeting between the two leaders without knowing what “great progress” means.
Is Russia “inclined” towards agreeing a ceasefire, as Ukraine’s president now claims?
Is Mr Putin prepared to meet with his Ukrainian foe, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, too?
The very fact that we’re asking those questions suggests something shifted on a day when there was no expectation of a breakthrough.
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Mr Trump repeatedly vowed to end the war within 24 hours of becoming president.
On day 198 of his presidency, he might, just might, be one step closer to achieving that.
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