Boris and Rishi at war

Sunak said Johnson had asked him to over-rule advice from the House of Lords appointments commission…reports Asian Lite News

Rishi Sunak and Boris Johnson traded recriminations over the latter’s resignation honours list on Monday, as MPs prepared to publish what is expected to be a highly critical report about the former prime minister’s conduct.

Sunak accused Johnson of asking him to wave through a long list of allies to the House of Lords, prompting the former prime minister to say the current premier was “talking rubbish”.

The war of words came as MPs on the cross-party House of Commons privileges committee met to finalise their report into whether Johnson deliberately misled parliament about the partygate scandal.

Sunak rounded on Johnson after the latter on Friday announced he was quitting the Commons, with the former premier claiming the committee was engaged in a “political hit job” despite not having a “shred of evidence” against him.

Johnson made his shock move shortly after his resignations honours list was published, which contained peerages and other gongs for many of his allies.

Sunak said Johnson had asked him to over-rule advice from the House of Lords appointments commission, which vets nominations for peerages.

“When it comes to honours and Boris Johnson, Boris Johnson asked me to do something that I wasn’t prepared to do because I didn’t think it was right, either to over-rule the… committee or make promises to people,” said Sunak.

The Lords appointments commission has confirmed it rejected eight proposed candidates for peerages made by Johnson.

Downing Street has denied claims by Johnson’s allies that Sunak broke a promise to wave through the former’s entire resignation honours list.

“I wasn’t prepared to do that because I didn’t think that was right,” Sunak said at the Tech Week conference in London.

“And if people don’t like that, then tough. When I got this job I said I was going to do things differently because I was going to change politics.”

Johnson hit back angrily at Sunak, saying he had not asked for the Lords appointments commission to be overruled.

He appeared to suggest he wanted the commission to re-vet some of his nominees for peerages, saying: “To honour these peerages it was not necessary to over-rule [the commission] — but simply to ask them to renew their vetting, which was a mere formality.”

Meanwhile the Commons privileges committee is poised to release its report about Johnson’s conduct as soon as Tuesday.

The committee is expected to accuse Johnson of misleading the Commons when he said while prime minister that he did not know about parties held in Number 10 during Covid-19 restrictions.

MPs on the committee have been given additional security, amid accusations by Johnson that they have behaved like a “kangaroo court”.

Michael Gove, levelling-up secretary, told the BBC: “I do deprecate the fact [the MPs on the committee] are now in a position where, as reported, they have had to seek and have been granted additional security. I extend my sympathy to them and their families.”

Two former MPs who had expected to receive peerages from Johnson — Nadine Dorries and Nigel Adams — have announced they are also quitting the Commons, prompting three parliamentary by-elections.

Johnson and Adams have formally triggered the mechanism to step down from parliament, shifting the impetus to the government to decide when to call the by-elections.

Labour is confident of winning Johnson’s Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency, where he had a majority of 7,210 at the last general election.

But Adams’ Selby and Ainsty seat in Yorkshire will be harder for Labour: the Tories have a 20,137 majority.

The Liberal Democrats are focusing their efforts on winning Dorries’ Mid Bedfordshire constituency, where the Conservatives have a 24,664 majority.

Speculation has intensified at Westminster about the prospect of Johnson attempting to return to the Commons at the next general election, after he said on Friday he was leaving parliament “for now”.

Senior Tory figures expressed split views about whether Johnson should be allowed to stand again as a Conservative parliamentary candidate after quitting.

One minister said: “He’s just resigned from his seat which has a 7,000-plus majority. What right does he have to seek another?”

However, one Conservative official said it would be highly unusual to block Johnson from joining the Tory parliamentary candidates’ list and “would cause yet another drama” in the party.

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