of Thanassis Gavos
The immunity of the British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been referred to the parliamentary immunity committee by the plenary session of the House of Commons, in order to examine whether he misled the body when he assured that there was no violation of the law in the scandal. partygate.
The lawmakers approved in the afternoon a relevant proposal of the Labor of the official opposition, which was submitted after the imposition of a fine on Mr. Johnson by the Metropolitan Police for his presence at one of the 12 parties under investigation in government offices.
The work of the parliamentary committee on the referral will begin when the police investigation into the party.
The opposition proposal was passed without a vote, as it was preceded by the withdrawal of the ruling party from an attempt to postpone the process.
In particular, on Wednesday night the government submitted an amendment to the Labor proposal which stipulated that the vote on the referral of the Prime Minister should be postponed until the completion of the police investigation into the partygate and after the full report of state official Sue Gray on these parties was made public.
In fact, the government had raised the issue of party discipline with the Conservative MPs, in order to ensure the approval of the amendment.
However, at the beginning of today’s debate, the government announced the withdrawal of the amendment, giving the Tory MPs the freedom to vote conscientiously.
The government argued that the decision was taken because it had become clear that in practice the immunity committee would be investigated after the police investigation was completed. Mr Johnson himself said it was important that people did not think the government was trying to avoid control.
However, the opposition and many commentators estimate that the government changed its tactics when it found that more than the expected number of Conservative MPs reacted to the attempt to delay the parliamentary inquiry into the conduct of the Prime Minister.
The immunity committee has the right to request documents and photographs that have been the subject of previous partygate inquiries, but also to potentially recommend to the House of Commons sanctions against him. Prime Minister.
During the debate on the referral proposal, the opposition accused the Prime Minister of deliberately misleading the body and of “damaging the fabric of democracy”.
After all, William Ragg became the second Conservative MP this week to declare in Parliament that he no longer considers Boris Johnson capable of governing.
He was followed shortly afterwards by Steve Baker, a high-profile Conservative lawmaker who had just praised Boris Johnson for his apology to Parliament on Tuesday. “The prime minister should have left a long time ago,” Baker said today, adding that Mr Johnson’s remorse did not last long.
According to Sky News political editors, now 12 Conservative MPs have called for the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Johnson and another 18 have publicly avoided supporting him as party leader in the upcoming election.
From Gujarat, India, where he is on an official visit, Boris Johnson said he had absolutely nothing to hide and again rejected the voices for his resignation. “Of course I think the situation (regarding the partygate) is serious, but I also think we have huge issues that citizens expect us to address. “I think the people want us to move forward with our work to move the country forward.”
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