Grant Shapps defends Commons privileges committee over Boris Johnson allegations

Opposing camps within Britain’s governing Conservative party exchanged blows on Sunday as fallout from the unexpected resignation from parliament of former UK prime minister Boris Johnson continued.

Grant Shapps, a senior cabinet minister, defended the Tory-dominated committee of MPs that is expected to condemn the behaviour of Johnson this week — insisting they should be allowed to “get on with their work”.

Johnson, who quit as an MP on Friday night, fuelling a fresh bout of Tory infighting, claimed that the cross-party privileges committee was a “kangaroo court”.

He had recently learned that it would accuse him in a report expected this week of deliberately misleading the House of Commons when he said he did not know about Downing Street parties during Covid-19 lockdowns.

The committee — which will hold a final meeting on Monday — had been set to recommend Johnson’s suspension from parliament for more than 10 days, potentially triggering a by-election in his former seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip.

Shapps, the energy secretary, dismissed the idea that the committee was biased or that Johnson had been forced out by the “establishment”, noting the seven-strong committee had a Conservative majority.

The cabinet minister said “the world has moved on” from the Johnson era, and played down the idea of a Johnson comeback, telling Sky News: “I’m sure he’s got many other things he wants to get on and do.”

Johnson said in his statement on Friday that he was resigning “for now”, raising the possibility that he could stand in a different seat at the next general election.

Allies sought to reinforce that possibility on Sunday.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former cabinet minister, said Johnson would be “in pole position” to return as Tory leader if there was a future vacancy.

“I would most strongly warn Conservative party management against any attempt to block Boris if he seeks the party nomination in another seat,” said Rees-Mogg, who was knighted by Johnson in his resignation honours on Friday. “The master of the unexpected may yet have another scene to play.”

Rees-Mogg said he expected Sunak to lead his party into next year’s general election. “I’m looking at some indeterminate date in the future when Rishi’s hair has gone grey and he decides to retire and Boris comes back on his charger to save the nation.”

Sunak is facing three challenging by-elections in the coming weeks after two of Johnson’s allies — Nigel Adams and Nadine Dorries — followed his lead and said they were quitting the Commons.

One Tory insider said “problems will come if we don’t do well”, describing the by-elections as the first big test of Sunak’s leadership. The mood in the party was “already not great and this will unsettle people”, the person added.

The Conservatives have lost several seats with huge majorities in the past two years in Tiverton and Honiton, North Shropshire, and Chesham and Amersham.

“The counter-coup is now well under way,” said David Bannerman, a former Tory MEP. “Sunak is on borrowed time. Expect other by-elections.”

But as of Sunday lunchtime there was little sign that more MPs would resign in support of Johnson. One Tory MP said: “Boris and Nadine are selfish and they have lost. This is all out of spite.” A second said it felt “like the death throes of Boris’s support in parliament”.