Bryant: PM involved in pressurising MPs to back him
THE senior MP who heads the Commons “sleaze” watchdog has warned Government attempts to pressurise Tory MPs seeking to oust Boris Johnson are illegal.
Chris Bryant, chairman of the Commons Standards Committee, said threats to withdraw public funding from MPs’ constituencies amounted to “misconduct in public office” and should be referred to the police.
He said there were even allegations the Prime Minister had been directly involved as he battles to save his job ahead of a keenly-awaited report into lockdown parties in Downing Street. His intervention came after William Wragg, the senior Tory MP who first raised concerns about attempted “blackmail” by Number 10, disclosed that he is to meet police to discuss his claims.
Mr Bryant, a Labour MP, claimed he had spoken to “about a dozen” Conservatives in recent days who had either been threatened by Government whips with having funding cut from their constituencies or promised funding if they voted “the right way”.
“I have even heard MPs alleging that the Prime Minister himself has been doing this,” Mr Bryant told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.
“What I have said to all of those people is that I think that is misconduct in public office. The people who should be dealing with such allegations are the police. We are not the United States. We don’t run a ‘pork barrel’ system. It is illegal.
“We are meant to operate as MPs without fear or favour. The allocation of taxpayer funding to constituencies should be according to need, not according to the need to keep the Prime Minister in his job.”
Earlier, Mr Wragg said he would be meeting a Scotland Yard detective in the House of Commons early next week, raising the prospect police could open an investigation.
The disclosure came after Downing Street said it would not be mounting its own inquiry into the claims, despite calls to do so by both Conservative and opposition MPs.
A Number 10 spokesman said it would only open an inquiry if it was presented with evidence to back up Mr Wragg’s assertions. However, the MP, who chairs the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, said he believed an investigation should be for the “experts” in the police.
He told The Daily Telegraph that he would outline “several” examples of bullying and intimidation, in some cases involving public money.
“I stand by what I have said. No amount of gaslighting will change that,” he told the newspaper.