Lib Dems ask committee to think about ‘withdrawal’ of Boris Johnson’s honours listing

The Liberal Democrats have written to the federal government’s Forfeiture Committee searching for to have Boris Johnson’s honours listing withdrawn.

Christine Jardine, the get together’s spokesperson for the cupboard workplace, raised doubts concerning the suitability of the folks the previous prime minister nominated for titles, together with these “implicated in the partygate saga”.

The MP for Edinburgh West additionally mentioned the occasions which have occurred since their names have been launched two weeks in the past have “brought the honours system into disrepute” and there are grounds for revoking the listing “in its entirety”.

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“I am therefore urging you to open an investigation into the potential withdrawal of all of Boris Johnson’s honours which fall under the scope of your committee,” Ms Jardine mentioned.

On Monday, Mr Johnson was stripped of particular entry to parliament after MPs endorsed the privileges committee’s findings that he lied about events in Downing Street in the course of the COVID pandemic.

In its damning report, the cross-party inquiry really helpful that the previous Tory chief ought to have served a 90-day suspension from the Commons had he not give up as an MP simply days earlier.

Mr Johnson resigned hours after his nominations listing was printed after receiving an advance copy of the privileges committee’s verdict.

He has continued to disclaim wrongdoing and hit out at what he claimed was a “kangaroo court”.

In her letter, Ms Jardine condemned Mr Johnson’s “deplorable attacks on the committee and our parliamentary democracy”.

She additionally pointed to new footage of a Christmas occasion held on the Conservative Party Headquarters in 2020 when restrictions have been in place, saying the so-called “jingle and mingle” had “further deepened public anger” concerning the former prime minister’s honours.

The bash was attended by former London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey and Tory aide Ben Mallet, who have been put ahead for a peerage and an OBE respectively by Mr Johnson.

Political aides who labored with Mr Johnson in the course of the partygate scandal have been additionally nominated for honours, alongside Conservative allies of the previous prime minister together with ex-cabinet ministers Priti Patel and Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Charlotte Owen, a former adviser to Mr Johnson who graduated in 2015, will turn into the youngest ever life peer.

Ms Jardine mentioned: “Clearly, the circumstances around this list – and the events which have occurred since its release – are unprecedented and have brought the honours system into disrepute.

“I consider that there are grounds for analyzing whether or not Boris Johnson’s resignation honours listing might be revoked in its entirety. “

The Forfeiture Committee’s website says an honour can be withdrawn “for a wide range of causes, together with prison conviction and bringing the honours system into disrepute”.

It deals with honours such as knighthoods rather than peerages, which can only be removed by an act of parliament.

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Ms Jardine said: “To settle for an honour from Boris Johnson is an act which itself brings the system into disrepute – and I’d argue that it’s, due to this fact, grounds for revoking. I sit up for listening to from you as quickly as potential.”

The letter comes as the government attempts to draw a line under the honours row, which has seen Mr Johnson embroiled in a public spat with Rishi Sunak over certain nominees who were removed from the list.

Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride said on Monday that the “caravan has acquired to maneuver on” from the former prime minister after the Commons overwhelmingly backed the sanctions against him.

But, in a sign of the Tory civil war continuing, Senior Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood earlier said Mr Bailey should reconsider the peerage handed to him by the former prime minister.

And cabinet minister Penny Mordaunt also raised concern yesterday, saying during the debate about the privileges report that Britons believe there has been “debasement of the honours system” by Mr Johnson.