'Boris Johnson's departure was graceless in the extreme'

It’s not good for my health, mental or otherwise, but amid all the dross, the Covid and climate change deniers, the right-wing conspiracy theorists and pleas to rehome dogs, there are a few nuggets of real joy.

One of them is a man called Russ Jones who lives in Nantwich and tweets under the handle @RussInCheshire.

He has more than 290,000 followers and his forte over the past couple of years has been long threads under the general title of ‘The Week in Tory’ where he pokes fun (sometimes gentle, sometimes excoriating) at the antics, contradictions and general poor behaviour of our elected leaders in the Conservative government.

Which leads us to the departure of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson from Parliament last week after getting an advance copy of the Privileges Committee report into whether or not he lied to Parliament.

In true Trumpian style, Johnson’s departure was graceless in the extreme, calling the investigation a witch-hunt and the committee itself a kangaroo court.

So drawing on @RussInCheshire as a primary source, backed up by the Institute for Government, let’s have a look at the facts and not the man-baby rantings of a man who has finally been forced to take responsibility for his actions.

In April last year, the entire House of Commons passed a motion calling for the then prime minister Boris Johnson to be investigated by the Commons Privileges Committee for having potentially misled parliament over ‘partygate’ allegations.

NB: The Tories have a majority in the House of Commons and could have blocked this.

The Privileges Committee has seven members who are chosen by MPs. Four are Conservative, two are Labour and one is SNP. It's overseen by a retired High Court judge to ensure impartiality and fair process.

It has been chaired by Labour’s Harriet Harman since summer 2022 (rules state it must be chaired by an MP from the official opposition). The motion to appoint Harman was tabled by the government and approved by the Commons as a whole. The committee then unanimously appointed her as chair.

NB: The Tories have a majority on the committee.

But all this wasn’t good enough for Johnson and in his resignation letter he hit out at both the committee and the process, saying: “I am now being forced out of parliament by a tiny handful of people, with no evidence to back up their assertions, and without the approval even of Conservative party members let alone the wider electorate.

"I believe that a dangerous and unsettling precedent is being set."

That’s fine and he’s entitled to his opinion. It’s just a pity that every single point he makes is demonstrably untrue.

Firstly, the Privileges Committee doesn’t have the power to force out any MP. The only power it has is to make recommendations that trigger a debate in the House of Commons.

Any sanctions recommended by the committee have to be approved by a vote of the whole House which can choose to accept, reject, or amend them.

NB: The Tories have a majority in the House of Commons.

Secondly, as Johnson well knows, Conservative party members play no part in this system (in the same way they played no part in appointing Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister). But why let the facts get in the way of populist obfuscation?

And finally, had he not spit out his dummy and resigned, he could have put his case to the ‘wider electorate’ had he so wished.

A suspension of 10 or more ‘sitting days’ voted on and agreed by the Commons automatically generates a recall petition. Were 10 per cent or more of Johnson’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituents to sign the petition, it would have forced a by-election in which Johnson could have stood. He would then have had clear evidence if his constituents ‘approved’ or not.

(The polls suggest he would have lost to the Labour candidate so perhaps Johnson figured that letting the ‘wider electorate’ have their say wasn’t such a good idea after all.)

So no, he’s not been forced out by a tiny handful of people. In the words of the Radiohead song Just: ‘You do it to yourself, you do; And that's what really hurts; You do it to yourself, just you; You and no one else.’

I will leave you with this:

The Narcissist's Prayer by Dayna Craig

That didn't happen.

And if it did, it wasn't that bad.

And if it was, that's not a big deal.

And if it is, that's not my fault.

And if it was, I didn't mean it.

And if I did, you deserved it.