Allies of Boris Johnson have been criticised for mounting a “co-ordinated” attack on the privileges committee after it ruled the former prime minister repeatedly lied to parliament about partygate.
Nadine Dorries and Jacob Rees-Mogg were among those singled out in a follow-up report by the committee this morning.
Priti Patel, Andrea Jenkyns, Mark Jenkinson, Brendan Clarke-Smith and Michael Fabricant are also criticised in the report, as are several members of the House of Lords - including Foreign Office minister Lord Goldsmith.
They mounted outspoken attacks on the committee, which has a Conservative majority, when it published its findings two weeks ago.
The committee ruled that Johnson “committed a serious contempt” by denying that lockdown rules had been broken in Downing Street when he was PM.
Johnson - who resigned as an MP after seeing an advanced copy of the report - described it as “the final knife-thrust in a protracted political assassination”.
The committee said it would have recommended a 90-day Commons suspension if Johnson had not already quit, and also called for him to lose his parliamentary pass - a move overwhelmingly backed by MPs.
Rees-Mogg, who was knighted in Johnson’s resignation honours list, described the proposed 90-day sanction as “vindictive”, while Dorries said the inquiry was a “witch-hunt”.
In their latest report, the committee complains of”the improper pressure brought to bear on the committee and its members throughout this inquiry”.
“We are concerned in particular at the involvement of members of both houses in attempting to influence the outcome of the inquiry,” the committee says.
“Those members did not choose to engage through any proper process such as the submission of letters or evidence to our inquiry, but by attacking the members of the committee, in order to influence their judgement.”
The committee highlights a number of “disturbing examples” of attacks on the committee’s work by MPs and peers on TV, radio and social media.
On June 15, Dorries tweeted: “We also need to keep a close eye on the careers of the Conservative MPs who sat on that committee. Do they suddenly find themselves on chicken runs into safe seats? Gongs? Were promises made? We need to know if they were. Justice has to be seen to be done at all levels of this process.”
On her Talk TV show on March 23, she said: “I don’t think there was ever a world in which this committee was going to find Boris innocent.
“The committee have demonstrated very clearly that they have decided early on to find him guilty. The committee knew that they had not a shred of evidence to prove that he misled with intent.”
The day before, Rees-Mogg told Radio 4 the committee “makes kangaroo courts look respectable”.
On June 9, Lord Goldsmith retweeted a tweet calling the inquiry a witch hunt and kangaroo court, adding: “Exactly this. There was only ever going to be one outcome and the evidence was totally irrelevant to it.”
MPs will now debate and vote on the committee’s new report, and those named in it could face punishment from parliament.
The committee said it was up to MPs “to consider what further action, if any, to take in respect of members of the house referred to in this special report”.