Boris Johnson has pulled out of an appearance before senior MPs with less than 24 hours’ notice, saying he needed to “focus on delivering Brexit”.
The Prime Minister had been due to face questioning by the Commons Liaison Committee – made up of select committee chairmen – at Westminster on Thursday.
But in a handwritten note to the chairwoman, Sarah Wollaston, he asked for a new date to be arranged for “five or six months” on from when he became Prime Minister.
Appalling that the PM is refusing to answer detailed questions from select committee chairs on behalf of the public, cancelling again at very short notice rather than face scrutiny pic.twitter.com/3y9XjAzhjG
— Sarah Wollaston MP (@sarahwollaston) October 23, 2019
In her reply, Dr Wollaston said his refusal to be held to account – having cancelled two previous appearances – was “unacceptable”.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson to break 'do or die' pledge on Brexit
In his note, released by the committee, Mr Johnson said: “I promised that I will come to the Liaison Committee and I will keep that promise but I am afraid I must now focus on delivering Brexit in the difficult circumstances in which we now find ourselves.”
He said that delaying his first appearance until five or six months after he became Prime Minister in July would be roughly in line with what happened with his predecessors Theresa May, David Cameron and Gordon Brown.
In her reply Dr Wollaston said: “Frankly, I am astonished that, at such short notice, you are refusing to face detailed scrutiny from select committee chairs tomorrow morning.
“It is unacceptable that you are refusing to be held to account.”
READ MORE: Boris Johnson loses vote on fast-track timetable for Brexit bill
The committee hearings – which normally take place three times a year – are an opportunity for members to put detailed questions to the Prime Minister on selected policy areas.
Mr Johnson had been due to be questioned on climate change and health and social care policy as well as Brexit.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel