“It is important to show the public that there is not one rule for them and another for us."
Former Prime Minister Theresa May has won applause for the manner in which she tore into Boris Johnson for lying to Parliament.
Yesterday evening saw MPs vote on whether to accept the Privileges Committee’s recommended punishments for Johnson after he was found to have deliberately misled Parliament over lockdown parties in Downing Street on numerous occasions.
MPs voted by 354 votes to seven to accept the committee’s findings and recommendations.
Hours before the vote, MPs were debating the report’s findings, which saw May tear into Johnson without having to mention her successor’s name.
She told the Commons: “It’s not easy to sit in on judgement of friends and colleagues. One day, you’re judging the behaviour – the next day, you might be standing next to them in the queue in the members’ tea room.
“I know it is not easy because as prime minister, I had to judge, take decisions based on judgements about the behaviour of friends and colleagues. Decisions which affected their lives and potentially their careers.
“But friendship, working together, should not get in the way of doing what is right.”
She praised the Committee for its work and for ‘their dignity in the face of slurs on their integrity’. It’s worth remembering that the Committee had accused Johnson in its report of trying to attack its members ahead of the report’s release.
May added: “This committee report matters, this debate matters, and this vote matters.
“They matter because they strike at the heart of the bond of trust and respect between the public and parliament that underpin the workings of this place and this democracy.”
May also said during her speech: “It is important to show the public that there is not one rule for them and another for us.
“Indeed, I believe we have a greater responsibility than most to uphold the rules and to set an example.
“The decision also matters to show that Parliament is capable of dealing with members who transgress the rules of this house, if you like to show the sovereignty of Parliament.
“Following an unsettling period in our political life, support for the report of the Privileges Committee will be a small but important step in restoring people’s trust in members of this house and of parliament.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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