Boris Johnson Partygate inquisitor challenged to quit by Rees-Mogg

2023-07-01

Boris Johnson Partygate inquisitor Sir Bernard Jenkin challenged to quit key Commons post by Rees-Mogg

Sir Bernard Jenkin is one of Mr Johnson’s chief interrogators
He has has remained silent now on whether he also attended for two weeks

Boris Johnson Partygate inquisitor Sir Bernard Jenkin was challenged to quit a key Commons post last night pending a full investigation into claims that he himself attended a lockdown-busting party.

The senior Tory MP was also accused of having ‘gone to ground’ over his continued refusal to answer questions over allegations he was at a ‘birthday drinks’ in December 2020 that broke Covid-19 rules.

Sir Bernard, one of Mr Johnson’s chief interrogators on the Privileges Committee inquiry, has remained silent now on the issue for two weeks.

But fellow Tory MP Virigina Crosbie has apologised for being at the gathering – a joint event to mark her birthday and that of Sir Bernard’s wife Anne – although she said she was there only briefly.

Sir Bernard Jenkin is the Conservative MP for Harwich and North Essex, and has been an MP continuously since 9 April 1992

In its latest report, the Commons’ Privileges Committee seeks to rebuke MPs and peers who have dared to criticise its investigation into Boris Johnson and the so-called Partygate affair

Last night, former Cabinet Minister Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg said it was now time for a full inquiry into the event.

He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Sir Bernard… will have to be investigated if he will not tackle the issue personally.’ And he called for Sir Bernard to give up his influential position as chairman of the Liaison Committee, which is made up of the heads of all the Commons’ select committees.

Sir Jacob said: ‘He [Sir Bernard] cannot hold this post while the questions are unanswered. He will not be taken seriously in this role, while people are chortling at him behind their hand, for his own peccadilloes.’

Sir Jacob conceded that his Tory colleague could be ‘perfectly innocent, with reasons similar to Boris’s for not realising it was against the rules, or for, in good faith, having made a mistake’.

But he added: ‘Unfortunately, while he fails to answer questions, it looks as if he has something to hide.

‘Silence assumes consent, in this case, consenting that he was at a party.’

Sir Bernard did not respond to approach for comment.

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