Rishi Sunak has refused to condemn the Tory MPs accused of trying to undermine and intimidate the Privileges Committee, insisting he still has “confidence” in those named in a damning report published on Thursday.
Seven Tory MPs and three Tory peers were accused of launching a “co-ordinated campaign” against members of the Privileges Committee overseeing a recent inquiry into whether Boris Johnson misled Parliament about “Partygate“.
In a special report published on Thursday, the committee slammed Tory heavyweights Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg for their “vociferous attacks” against its inquiry into Mr Johnson, which the MPs described as a “witch hunt” and “kangaroo court”.
The report also criticised “unprecedented” attempts to undermine its integrity by Conservative peers including Lord Goldsmith, a serving minister.
But Mr Sunak’s official spokesperson refused to distance the Prime Minister from those condemned in the report on Thursday.
Asked whether he still had confidence in Lord Goldsmith, who was handed a peerage by Mr Johnson after losing his seat as an MP in 2019, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “Yes”.
He also declined to say if Mr Sunak would participate in a vote on the recommendations included in the report, which MPs are due to debate on 10 July. Those named could face being suspended from Parliament if MPs vote in favour of the sanction.
“You heard the Prime Minister give his view about the importance and the respect he has for the work of the committee,” Mr Sunak’s spokesman said.
“Their work should not be traduced… The House will come to view on the Privileges Committee report. I’m not going to get ahead of the House coming to a view.”
The Liberal Democrats called for Lord Goldsmith to be sacked, claiming that failure to do so would undermine Mr Sunak’s pledge when he entered No 10 to restore “integrity” to the heart of government.
Dick Newby, the Lib Dems’ leader in the House of Lords, said: “This report was already damning enough but to now see a serving Government minister named as interfering with the reports findings is truly shocking.
“It is only right that Sunak sacks Zac Goldsmith from his role as Government minister if he wants to show any shred of integrity.”
But Mr Johnson’s allies named by the Privileges Committee insisted they stood by their previous statements questioning its intentions and claimed Thursday’s report marked an attack on free speech.
Brendan Clarke-Smith, who took to Twitter the day the inquiry into Mr Johnson was published to claim it “would put a banana republic to shame”, said he was “shocked and disappointed to be named in this new report”.
“This raises serious questions about free speech in a democratic society and my colleagues and I will continue to defend these principles going forward,” he said.
Mark Jenkinson, who also attacked the committee as a “kangaroo court”, said its latest report was “another perfect example of gross overreach”.
Ms Dorries, who was lambasted in the report for using her weekly slot of TalkTV to attack the committee, made an appearance on the same TV channel on Thursday to slam the report as “an attempt to close down freedom of speech”.
Sir Jacob, the former business secretary, declined to comment on the report when stopped by reporters on Thursday, and said he was going to church and then off to watch the cricket.
