A damning report which found Boris Johnson committed “repeated contempts” of parliament has prompted his most loyal Tory supporters to reach for some floral language to defend the former prime minister.
The findings of the privileges committee will be debated on June 19, with MPs expected to have a free vote on proposed sanctions for deliberately misleading MPs.
The committee recommended a 90-day suspension for Johnson, which he will escape after resigning as an MP, and said he should not receive a pass granting access to parliament which is normally given to former members.
In a sign of the growing Conservative civil war, Johnson cheerleader Nadine Dorries has called for Tories who vote against the pary’s former leader to be kicked out of the party.
Bassetlaw MP Brendan Clarke-Smith perhaps reached for the most hyperbolic language, telling the BBC that the report was “vindictive, spiteful and an over-each”, adding: “90 days and taking their pass off them is the equivalent of putting somebody in the stocks and touring them round the country.”
He also tweeted his support for Johnson with an “I’m backing Boris” graphic.
Close Johnson ally James Duddridge was of a similar mind, tweeting: “Why not go the full way, put Boris in the stocks and provide rotten food to throw at him.
“Moving him around the marginals, so the country could share in the humiliation.”
Former Cabinet minister Simon Clarke was also among Johnson’s allies to indicate they would vote against the report, saying “this punishment is absolutely extraordinary to the point of sheer vindictiveness”.
Dorries, the former culture secretary, who announced her intention to resign as an MP after being struck off Johnson’s honours list, tweeted: “Any Conservative MP who would vote for this report is fundamentally not a Conservative and will be held to account by members and the public. Deselections may follow. It’s serious.”
But another close ally of Johnson, Jacob Rees-Mogg, said the Commons will “inevitably” vote in favour of the privileges committee report.
“Inevitably Boris will lose the vote because you have the whole of the Opposition against him… but you also have the Boris haters in the Conservative Party,” the former Cabinet minister told Sky News.
Johnson was said to have deliberately misled MPs with his partygate denials and accused of being complicit in a campaign of abuse and intimidation, with the former prime minister hitting out at the “deranged conclusion”.