Penny Mordaunt refuses to back kicking Boris Johnson out of Privy Council
EMBARGO: Immediate release
Penny Mordaunt has rejected calls from the Liberal Democrats to kick Boris Johnson out of the Privy Council, claiming that a “higher threshold” would be needed to do so.
Liberal Democrat Shadow Leader of the House, Wera Hobhouse MP challenged Mordaunt in the Commons today to act to kick Johnson out, given her role as Lord President of the Council.
Penny Mordaunt claimed it would be inappropriate to do so because “where people have been booted out of the Privy Council before, the threshold for that is much higher” than Johnson’s case.
It comes after the Privileges Committee found that Boris Johnson deliberately misled Parliament over partygate.
Liberal Democrat Shadow Leader of the House Wera Hobhouse MP commented:
“What Boris Johnson did was neither right nor honourable. The idea that he should still get to refer to himself as ‘Right Honourable’ is absurd.
“Johnson broke the law, lied to Parliament about it and launched deplorable attacks on our democracy. It’s beyond time he faces the consequences for his actions.
“The Conservative Government must remove Johnson from the Privy Council straight away. He is simply not fit to hold any form of public role for a minute longer”.
ENDS
Notes to Editor
A clip of the exchange in the Commons can be found here.
Wera Hobhouse MP has also written a letter to Penny Mordaunt MP as follows:
Dear Lord President of the Council,
I am writing following the Privileges Committee’s findings that the former Prime Minister and current member of the Privy Council, Boris Johnson, deliberately misled Parliament.
The Committee’s report was excoriating. It made very clear that, given Boris Johnson was Prime Minister when he misled the House, “the effect of any misleading is exceptionally serious both for the potential impact on public confidence and because the Prime Minister sets the standard for all other Ministers of the Crown in how they account to the House”.
The Privileges Committee stated that, were Boris Johnson still a Member of Parliament, they would have recommended a 90-day suspension, which underlines the severity of his misconduct. This is an unprecedented punishment for a former Prime Minister to receive. These findings have been accepted by Parliament. Indeed, you yourself voted for the report on Monday night.
Boris Johnson’s personal conduct over the past few days has only served to demonstrate that he is not suitable to hold public office. His attacks on the cross-party Privileges Committee are disgraceful, and serve to undermine the UK’s Parliamentary democracy.
Behaviour such as this must be very strongly condemned. We must send a clear signal that there is no place in British politics or in public life for someone who has no regard for standards. If we do not do so, we risk opening the door to people seeking to emulate Boris Johnson in the years to come.
With that in mind, I am writing to you regarding Boris Johnson’s status as a Privy Counsellor. Following the Committee’s findings and Boris Johnson’s recent actions, it is clearly untenable for Johnson to remain a member of the Privy Council. Quite simply, someone who has acted in the way Johnson has should not retain the title ‘right’ and ‘honourable’.
In your role as Lord President of the Council, it is incumbent on you to take a position. I therefore urge you to recommend that Boris Johnson be stripped of his Privy Counsellor status. We must do all we can to demonstrate that his behaviour will not be tolerated.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Yours sincerely,
Wera Hobhouse MP
Liberal Democrat Shadow Leader of the House
