entirely reasonable for honourable and right honourable members to have differing opinions on both the findings of the committee and the sanctions imposed by the committee. but where i part company with those who would vote against today s motion is that i strongly believe this house must uphold the processes and committees that we create. as a former leader of the house during 2017-2019 in the former leader of the house during 2017 2019 in the hung parliament, and when the harassment scandal hit this place, many colleagues in the chamber today and on the other place worked for the best part of the year to put together the independent complaints and grievances scheme. i certainly don t defend the scheme is being perfect, and i myself have some grave concerns about how it has been implemented that are not for discussion today. however, what i believe the original 16 cs is a agreed by the cells in 2018 got right was to uphold the principle
disrepute. this report, madam deputy speaker, is not about so called partygate, although the gravest civilian crisis since the second world war, which took 230,000 lives, is the sombre backdrop against which the prime minister s wrongdoing took place. this is about parliament s requirement that government ministers tell the truth, so that they can be held to account for their actions, and parliamentary accountability lies at the heart of our democratic system. now, serious matters concerning borisjohnson s lack of ability to tell the truth were referred to the committee for a unanimous decision of the whole house on april the 21st, 2022. this was when borisjohnson was still the prime minister, and therefore, it is safe to assume that he consented to this course of action. the committee
great, and with lay members, there is a vital constitutional issue around unelected people having the power to dismiss those that are elected. if we don t uphold this crucial principle of our democracy, we risk undermining the preferences of voters by appointing unelected assessors to wield power. this would be a dramatic change to one of the world s greatest and longest lived democracies, and we would effectively be saying that we are unable to govern ourselves, overturning a precedent that is hundreds of years old. that is a reality that many, right across the country, would be deeply uncomfortable with. so, madam deputy speaker, in my opinion, the time to challenge the make up all the proceedings for the fifth report of the committee of privileges is long, long past. colleagues with concerns about the committee quite rightly raised those before the house
the members of the privileges committee for their painstaking work, and for their dignity in the face of slurs on their integrity. to all the members of the committee, this house should, as leader of the house said, say thank you for your service. thank you for being willing to undertake this role, and particular thanks to the right honourable memberfor particular thanks to the right honourable member for peckham for being willing to stand up to share democrat chair the committee when the right honourable member rightfully accused himself recused himself. this committee report matters, this debate matters, and this vote matters. they matter because they strike at the heart of the bond and respect in parliament and our democracy. i will give way stop i am very grateful, mr deputy
to thank, as she did, i want to thank every member of the privileges committee. over the course of the last year, they have considered thousands of pages of evidence and participated in over 30 meetings were to do the job the house asked them to do, with outstanding dedication and commitment. but particularly the conservative members of the committee and they have also had to be extraordinarily resilient. they have had to withstand a campaign of threats, intimidation, and harassment, designed to challenge the legitimacy of the inquiry, to drive them off the committee and thereby frustrate the committee and thereby frustrate the intention of the house. but this inquiry should be carried out. yet, through all of this, they have not given into the intimidation, they have been influencing to their duty to the house and we owe them a huge amount. we need members to be