Labor’s latest insult to Johnson as Sunak looks weaker and weaker | Political news

Until the end, Boris Johnson and his fading supporters – Rishi Sunak and the Tory high command – prevailed over Labor in the party battle.

At the beginning of the Privileges Committee process, in April 2022 conservatives When the opposition’s motion to initiate the inquiry was allowed to pass unchallenged, it failed to notice the trap laid in the “nod”.

And finally, after Mr. Johnson Labor sprung another trap last Friday after it “reminded the dogs” and told its supporters to abstain after a marathon debate on the commission’s report.

Mr. Sunak – now looking weaker and weaker after skipping the debate and the vote – desperately wanted the report to go through with a “nod” to cover up bitter Tory divisions.

But when Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle called for a vote after more than five hours of heated debate, Labour’s chief whip Sir Alan Campbell shouted “No!” No! Nay,’ into Sir Lindsay’s ear to make sure there was a division.

He and his deputy, Lillian Greenwood, then acted as monitors for the unit’s progress.

Mr Johnson’s humiliation ended when seven Tory MPs voted against the committee’s humiliating report.

It was right An outcome that Mr. Johnson and his close allies did not want.

An overwhelming majority supports the report

This Friday, The Daily Telegraph reported that only seven MPs would have to vote against his “give up the dogs” report.

Indeed, there were seven votes in favor of Mr. Johnson in the vote. No wonder Mr Johnson has told his allies to stay away.

But 118 Tory MPs voted to damn it, including several government ministers and backbench MPs led by former prime minister Theresa May, including Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee.

Alex Chalk, David TC Davies, Simon Hart, Gillian Keegan, Chloe Smith, Penny Mordaunt, Andrew Mitchell and Tom Tugendhat. .

Sir Bill Cash, Nick Fletcher, Adam Holloway, Carl McCartney, Joey Morrissey, Sir Desmond Swain and Heather Wheeler were Johnson’s villains. But most of the former prime minister’s cheerleaders were indeed abstinent.

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Johnson’s reputation was in tatters

The marathon debate saw speaker after speaker – mostly opposition MPs, it must be said, but with a few Tories included – further discrediting Mr Johnson.

Now that he’s out of parliament and convicted on a House of Commons select committee report, they can call him a liar. Don’t worry about language outside of Parliament. And they did at every opportunity.

The stars of the debate were Mrs May and Harriet Harman, who both gave impressive speeches earlier.

Mrs May gave a statesman’s speech about public confidence in the policy Mr Sunak was expected to deliver.

Arguments for the defense were then led by county knights Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and Sir Bill Cash, but their attacks on the committee were too legalistic and elaborate.

The backlash against the Red Wall backfired after Great Grimsby MP Leah Nichy said she would vote against the report and then gave a provocative speech in opposition. Who pampered him?

At least Red Wall Nick Fletcher, from the Don Valley, gave a good speech in defense of Mr Johnson, saying he would die from COVID – kept his word and voted against him.

As the drama unfolded in the Commons, screen and stage legend Sir Ian McKellen, best known for his role as Gandalf in the Lord’s trilogy, was in the VIP gallery for the first part of the debate. rings.

This story is, of course, a fantasy.

Now Boris Johnson has paid the price for his delusional claims that Downing Street lockdown rules were intact during the Covid pandemic.