Tories told not to criticise MPs' probe into Boris Johnson

The government's chief whip has warned Conservative MPs not to comment on a probe into whether Boris Johnson misled MPs over Partygate.

It comes after allies of the outgoing PM dismissed the investigation by the Commons Privileges Committee as a "witch hunt" and "rigged".

The inquiry will examine whether he obstructed Parliament by telling it that pandemic rules had been followed.

It could lead to Mr Johnson being suspended from the Commons.

Parliament voted to launch the probe in April, after a series of revelations in the media about events held in and around No 10 during Covid restrictions.

Mr Johnson has promised to co-operate with the inquiry and has previously said he has "absolutely nothing, frankly, to hide".

A spokesperson for the committee said it had not "prejudged" any aspect of its inquiry, and the parliamentary officials advising it were politically impartial.

The probe could lead to Mr Johnson facing a by-election to remain an MP, if it leads to his suspension from the Commons for more than 10 days.

The cross-party committee has a Tory majority, but has found itself under fire from Conservative allies of the prime minister in recent days.

The comments came after the committee decided it would not have to prove Mr Johnson deliberately misled MPs to show he committed a "contempt of Parliament" by obstructing its work.

On Sunday, Johnson loyalist and Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said the "Machiavellian" inquiry was "the means to a by-election" and called on Tory MPs to "have no part in it".

"If this witch hunt continues, it will be the most egregious abuse of power witnessed in Westminster," she added.

Environment Minister Lord Goldsmith, whom Mr Johnson made a peer in December 2019, said the inquiry was "clearly rigged" and an "obscene abuse of power".

Backbench Tory MP Michael Fabricant also accused the committee of wanting to "get rid of Boris Johnson" and "changing the rules".

But in an email to Tory MPs on Thursday, Chief Whip Chris Heaton-Harris said he would like to "remind" them that the committee was set up by a vote in the Commons, which also has to sign off any sanction recommended by the committee.

"May I urge caution against any further comments in the media about the Privileges Committee and especially its Clerk and Members," wrote Mr Heaton-Harris, who is in charge of party discipline.

"Invariably these comments will be misinterpreted by those who do not wish to help us."

On Tuesday, one of the Tory MPs on the committee, Sir Bernard Jenkin, said the committee had a "duty" to carry out the inquiry and accused Ms Dorries of waging a "terrorist campaign to try and discredit the committee".

Tory leadership hopeful Liz Truss has said she would vote to end the inquiry if she sat on the committee - but acknowledged it was a matter for Parliament and would be going ahead.

Opposition parties have accused Mr Johnson of misleading Parliament in several statements to the Commons after the Partygate scandal emerged late last year.

An official investigation later concluded rules had been broken, whilst an inquiry by police led to 83 people, including Mr Johnson himself, being fined.

The prime minister has admitted his original statements have since proved incorrect, but he believed them to be true at the time. He has denied deliberately misleading MPs.

In an update last month, the committee said it had decided proving intent would not be necessary after taking advice from a top Commons official.

The Commons Speaker has said that if Parliament decides to suspend Mr Johnson for more than 10 days, it would trigger a "recall petition" in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.

If 10% or more of eligible voters sign such a petition, a by-election - in which Mr Johnson could stand - must then take place.

Suspensions of longer than 10 days have, however, been rare in recent years.

The last MP to face a ban of this length was the DUP's Ian Paisley, who was suspended for 30 days in 2018 for failing to declare holidays paid for by the Sri Lankan government.

The last MP to be suspended for a contempt of Parliament - the charge levelled against Mr Johnson - was Tory MP Justin Tomlinson. He was suspended for two days in 2016 for leaking a select committee report.