Labour Party sets out bid to trigger contempt probe into Johnson

LONDON • Britain's opposition Labour Party yesterday published details of its attempt to instigate a parliamentary investigation into whether Mr Boris Johnson misled Parliament in his initial response to reports of Covid-19 parties at 10 Downing Street that were in violation of curbs that the Prime Minister had himself imposed.

Lawmakers will today vote on a motion which, if passed, would refer Mr Johnson to Parliament's Committee of Privileges to consider whether his conduct amounted to contempt of the House of Commons.

The motion set out several instances in which Mr Johnson told Parliament that rules had not been broken and that parties had not taken place. Ministers caught lying to Parliament are expected to resign under rules written in what is known as the ministerial code.

"He knows he's dishonest and incapable of changing, so he drags everybody else down with him," said Mr Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party. He urged backbench members of Mr Johnson's Conservative Party not to follow "in the slipstream of an out-of-touch, out-of-control prime minister".

Mr Johnson on Tuesday apologised to Parliament after he was fined by police for breaking lockdown rules, saying he did not know a birthday gathering at the height of the pandemic was in breach of the rules he had set. He apologised more than a dozen times, although he never explicitly admitted to breaking the law when asked directly. He was especially contrite about his previous statements to Parliament, which pose a particular danger to him since they have been exposed as misleading, either intentionally or unwittingly.

"It did not occur to me, then or subsequently, that a gathering in the Cabinet room just before a vital meeting on Covid-19 strategy could amount to a breach of the rules," Mr Johnson said. "That was my mistake, and I apologise for it unreservedly."

Labour and other opposition parties are pushing for Mr Johnson to resign and hope that a finding he held Parliament in contempt might increase pressure on him.

Mr Johnson has said it is time to focus on other pressing international and domestic issues.

Today's debate, starting at 1030 GMT, will likely fail to trigger an investigation as some of the initial anger within Mr Johnson's Conservative Party about multiple accusations of lockdown breaches in government has died down. To pass, the motion would require a widespread rebellion among his fellow Conservatives, as the party has a large majority in Parliament.

Nevertheless, the debate will be closely watched to gauge the depth of support Mr Johnson retains among his peers, with police still investigating several other gatherings which may have broken the pandemic rules.

The vote today will have the effect of putting Conservative lawmakers on the record in their support of Mr Johnson - something that opponents could use against them in future elections. On Tuesday, opposition leaders offered a tangy foretaste of those attacks. "A lawbreaking Prime Minister - just dwell on this," said Mr Ian Blackford, the leader of Scottish National Party in the British Parliament. "A prime minister who has broken the law and remains under investigation over additional lawbreaking. Not just a lawbreaker, a serial offender. If he has any decency, any dignity, he would not just apologise; he would resign."

For critics, the biggest cost of the scandal may be diminished public trust in government. Covid-19 measures were particularly hard on families with relatives who ended up in the hospital, where they sometimes died alone, barred from seeing loved ones. Many have expressed outrage that Mr Johnson and his colleagues, who imposed those rules, did not abide by them.

"In our strange Constitution, all depends on public feeling," said Professor Vernon Bogdanor, an expert on constitutional issues and government at King's College London. "If the public feels strongly enough, they could compel a prime ministerial resignation by writing to their MPs, by Conservative voluntary workers refusing to do voluntary work, and by votes in the local elections."

Several of Mr Johnson's Cabinet ministers argued that the scandal was a distraction at a time when Europe is facing its gravest security crisis since World War II. Forcing out their leader now, they said, would be a mistake.

Still, the angry, emotional tenor of the debate revealed how deeply the scandal has blackened Mr Johnson's reputation. Voters will get their chance to deliver a verdict on May 5, when the UK holds nationwide elections for local and city councils.

NYTIMES, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS