Commons Select Committee of Privileges

As of March 2025, the members of the committee were as follows:{{cite news |author= |date=5 November 2024 |title=Committee of Privileges membership appointed |url=https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/289/committee-of-privileges/news/203608/committee-of-privileges-membership-appointed/ |work=Committee of Privileges |location=UK |access-date=7 March 2025}}

As of March 2023, the members of the committee were as follows:{{Cite web |title=Membership - Committee of Privileges |url=https://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/privileges/membership/ |access-date=2023-03-22 |website=UK Parliament |language=en}}

{{Main|Commons Privileges Committee investigation into Boris Johnson}}

The Privileges Committee of the House of Commons had a parliamentary injury over the investigation into Boris Johnson's breach of lockdown rules during the COVID-19 pandemic, concerning four specific assertions made by the then Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Prime Minister's Questions about "the legality of activities in 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office under Covid regulations", events commonly referred to as Partygate. The investigation is concerned with whether Johnson misled the Commons when he made these statements.

The Committee published their final report on 15 June.{{Cite web |date=15 June 2023 |title=Boris Johnson report latest: Covid bereaved seek ex-PM apology after Partygate report |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-politics-65876914 |website=BBC News}} Johnson resigned over the investigation after having been sent a draft copy of the committee's report. The Committee had voted on the final report text and unanimously supported it. They concluded that Johnson had deliberately misled the House, a contempt of Parliament. They said that, had he still been an MP, they would have recommended a 90 day suspension. If that had happened, it would have been the second longest suspension since 1949.{{Cite web |last=Magazine |first=Perspective |date=15 June 2023 |title=What happens now the Privileges Committee's report on Johnson has been released? |url=https://perspectivemag.co.uk/what-happens-now-the-privileges-committees-report-on-johnson-has-been-released/}}{{Cite web |last=Balls |first=Katy |date=15 June 2023 |title=Boris Johnson's fall from grace has given Rishi Sunak an opportunity |url=https://inews.co.uk/opinion/columnists/boris-johnson-fall-rishi-sunak-opportunity-2414008 |website=inews.co.uk}}{{Cite news |last=Sparrow |first=Andrew |date=15 June 2023 |title=Boris Johnson would face 90-day suspension if he were still MP, says privileges committee – as it happened |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2023/jun/15/boris-johnson-partygate-privileges-committee-report-conservatives-uk-politics-live |newspaper=The Guardian |via=www.theguardian.com}}

The Committee concluded that Johnson's actions were "more serious" because they were committed when he was Prime Minister. They noted that there was no precedent for a PM being found to have deliberately misled Parliament.{{Cite web |last=Marquis |first=Josh Salisbury, Bill McLoughlin, Claudia |date=15 June 2023 |title=Tory civil war tensions as MPs given vote on Boris Partygate report |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/london-politics-latest-live-partygate-boris-johnson-report-privileges-committee-b1087960.html |website=Evening Standard}} The report stated that Johnson tried to "rewrite the meaning" of COVID rules "to fit his own evidence" for example that "a leaving gathering or a gathering to boost morale was a lawful reason to hold a gathering."{{cite news |last1=Castle |first1=Stephen |date=15 June 2023 |title=Boris Johnson Misled Parliament Over Covid Lockdown Parties, Report Says |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/15/world/europe/boris-johnson-report-covid-lockdown-parties-uk.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230615110139/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/15/world/europe/boris-johnson-report-covid-lockdown-parties-uk.html |archive-date=15 June 2023 |access-date=16 June 2023 |work=The New York Times}} They concluded he was guilty of further contempt of Parliament and that he breached confidentiality requirements by criticising the Committee's provisional findings when he resigned. They said he was complicit in a "campaign of abuse" against those investigating him.

The Commons debated the report on 19 June 2023. Labour forced a vote and the Commons voted 354 to 7 in support, with a large number of abstentions. This was an absolute majority of the Commons. 118 Conservative MPs, including 15 ministers, voted for the report and 225 abstained. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had earlier said he had other commitments, and did not attend the debate and refused to say how he would have voted.

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• [http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/privileges/ The Committee's website]

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Category:Select Committees of the British House of Commons

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