empty, and a labouranti, two process, scottish national party empty, and a labour anti, two of the seven members of the privileges committee attempting in the language here, sounds quite technical, i will read it out. leave and suspended from the service of the house for 90 days and insert expelled from the house. it would have triggered an immediate by election had boris johnson not resigned and in contrast to the suspension which the committee ended up recommending, he would not have returned as an mp. but there is not a majority view on the committee that that should be the committee that that should be the case. the four conservative mps the case. the four conservative mp5 on the committee as the report records, andy carter,. they voted against that, which meant that the committee stayed with its original sanction of 90 days, which is in itself severe in the context of
parliament, the work of this committee to carry out a further contempt is just the sort of final straw, the cherry on top. although the committee do not use those sort of words, essentially what they are doing is accusing borisjohnson of donald trump like tactics, that idea that you never admit making a mistake, it is all somebody else s vault, and you do not mind if institutions are damaged in the process. that is incredibly serious allegations that these mps are making, essentially accusing the prime minister beyond the misleading, undermining parliament and basically putting britain s institutions or the institution of parliament in peril. the wider context, very, very big statement, as you say. thank you, rob watson, political correspondent. i m joined now by dr sam power, senior lecturer in politics at the university of sussex. and william atkinson.
report. getting your assessment of this reort. , ., , , getting your assessment of this reort. , ., ., report. obviously, at the stage, onl had report. obviously, at the stage, only had the report. obviously, at the stage, only had the chance report. obviously, at the stage, only had the chance to - report. obviously, at the stage, only had the chance to look- report. obviously, at the stage, only had the chance to look at l report. obviously, at the stage, l only had the chance to look at the summary, rather lengthy report, but it is quite clear the committee seems to have done a perfectly sensible credible piece of work in exactly the way i would have expected because what happens with the committee is people leave their party political allegiances to one side when they sit on it. the evidence, frankly, against mr johnson is overwhelming. it is overwhelming because of the evidence parties took place but what is particularly telling is that when he came to the house and made var
parliament, the proper democratic process. it is a very severe offence, about as severe as it can get in parliamentary terms. the contempt was all the more serious, the committee says, because it was committed by the prime minister, the most senior member of the government. there is no precedent for a prime minister, they say, having been found to have deliberately misled the house. you misled the house on an issue of the greatest importance, the committee says, to the house and to the public, and did so repeatedly. he declined our invitation to reconsider his assertion that what we had said to the house was truthful. his defence to the allegation that he misled was an ex post facto justification and no more than an artifice. he misled the committee in the presentation of his evidence. some very strong, very critical, very damning language at the crucial part of this report where they explain their