JACOB Rees-Mogg, Nadine Dorries and other diehard supporters of Boris Johnson face suspensions from the Commons for trashing the investigation that found he lied to MPs.
The Privileges Committee also named the former Home Secretary Priti Patel, the minister Lord Goldsmith, and the MP Michael Fabricant for trying to influence its outcome.
The Committee report into Mr Johnson’s repeated lies to Parliament over the Partgate affair and Covid rule-breaking prompted him to quit as an MP earlier this month.
The Committee recommended he be suspended for 90 days, in part because he had leaked its findings and contributed to a campaign of abuse and intimidation against it.
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In a special follow-up, the Committee today highlights the actions of seven Tory MPs and three peers who it said were part of a coordinated campaign to undermine its work.
It said it was now up to parliament to decide whether the actions amounted to contempt of parliament and what action, if any, to take.
It suggested that MPs should be asked to agree that seeking to “impugn the integrity of the committee” or attempt to “lobby or intimidate” its members “is itself capable of being a contempt” of Parliament.
The report is provisionally scheduled to be considered by MPs on July 10.
Other MPs quoted in the report include Mark Jenkinson, Brendan Clarke-Smith and Dame Andrea Jenkyns.
Before and after the Tory-led Committee delivered its devastating judgment on Mr Johnson, his outriders tried to dismiss it as a “witch hunt” and “kangaroo court”.
The report said the MPs criticised “did not choose to engage through any proper process such as the submission of letters or evidence to our inquiry, but by attacking the members of the committee, in order to influence their judgment”.
Their aim was to “influence the outcome of the inquiry”, “impede the work of the committee by inducing members to resign from it”, “discredit the committee’s conclusions if those conclusions were not what they wanted” and “discredit the Committee as a whole”, it said.
“The committee is particularly concerned about attacks mounted by experienced colleagues, including a serving minister of the Crown [Goldsmith], a former leader of the House [Rees-Mogg] and a former secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport [Dorries].”
In a reference to Ms Dorries’ regular appearances on TalkTV and Sir Jacob’s GB News role, the committee said “two of the Members mounting the most vociferous attacks on the committee did so from the platform of their own hosted TV shows”.
The report also highlighted the involvement of Lord Cruddas and Lord Greenhalgh, both given peerages by Mr Johnson, in a Conservative Post email and letter-writing campaign putting pressure on the four Tory members of the committee to quit.
The report said: “This had the clear intention to drive those members off the committee and so to frustrate the intention of the House that the inquiry should be carried out, or to prevent the inquiry coming to a conclusion which the critics did not want.”
There were also “sustained attempts to undermine and challenge the impartiality” of the committee’s Labour chairwoman, Harriet Harman.
“This unprecedented and co-ordinated pressure did not affect the conduct or outcome of our inquiry. However, it had significant personal impact on individual members and raised significant security concerns.”
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The committee also said the Lords should be made aware of the report and consider what action to take over the peers identified as part of the campaign.
The committee said the outcome of its work had not been influenced, but the attempt was unacceptable.
Mr Clarke-Smith said he was “shocked and disappointed” to be named in the report.
Committee members pointed to his tweet from June 9, when he said: “Tonight we saw the end result of a parliamentary witch-hunt which would put a banana republic to shame.”
But in response to the latest report the Bassetlaw MP said: “This raises serious questions about free speech in a democratic society and my colleagues and I will continue to defend these principles going forward.”
Sir Michael was criticised for tweeting in relation to the Johnson probe: “Serious questions will need to be asked about the manner in which the investigation was conducted.
“These were no jurists, as was apparent by the tone of the examination. The question of calibre, malice and prejudice will need to be answered now or by historians.”
Following his inclusion in the latest report, he said: “I stand by my statement. Some of the members of the Privileges Committee treated their witness, Boris Johnson, with contempt by gestures and other actions.
“Had it been in a law court, the judge would have called them to order. Respect for the committee needs to be earned.”
Mr Jenkinson accused the committee of “gross overreach” after being named in the report, claiming he was being criticised for “a tweet that did not refer to them and was about the media witch hunt of Boris Johnson”.
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