The chair of the Commons privileges committee Harriet Harman dismantled Jacob Rees-Mogg, after her committee’s work come under intesne scrutiny.
For example, Boris Johnson branded the committee a “kangaroo court” wheh he stepped down as an MP earlier this month.
It comes as Boris Johnson will today celebrate his 59th birthday at home in the Cotswolds while his allies boycott a debate on the Privileges Committee report saying he deliberately misled Parliament.
Harriet Harman
Harman defended the work of her panel and condemned the former PM and his allies, especially Jacob Rees-Mogg.
She declared that all prime ministers “must tell the truth”.
A claim that most of the public was support, presumably.
Jacob Rees-Mogg
She then turned her fire directly onto Jacob Rees-Mogg during a tense Commons exchange.
Harman told him that Rishi Sunak’s government had backed her leadership of the cross-party committee, he was nowhere to be seen for the debate or the vote.
She was then challenged by Mogg about her tweets criticising Boris Johnson and the “perception of bias” against the former PM.
Mr Rees-Mogg compared the privileges committee to “communist China”, and said the move to stripping Mr Johnson of his parliamentary pass was going “from the vindictive to the ridiculous”.
Ms Harman said she had “made it my business to find out whether or not it would mean that the government would not have confidence in me if I continued to chair the committee”.
She went on: “I was assured that I should continue the work that the House had mandated with the appointment that the House had put me into and so I did just that.”
Mic drop
There were huge cheers by the opposition benches.
One Labour MP could even be heard exclaiming: “Oh dear. I think that’s a mic drop! I think that’s a mic drop, Jacob Rees-Mogg.”
On Johnson’s conduct she said: “Mr Johnson’s dishonesty if left unchecked would have contaminated the whole of government, allowing misleading to become commonplace and thus eroding standards which are essential for the health of our democracy.”
Ms Harman said: “There is no impunity for wrongdoing. Even if you’re the prime minister – especially if you’re the prime minister – you must tell the truth to parliament.”
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