Now top Tories want Johnson to quit as MP

TORY grandees are planning to tell Boris Johnson to stand down as an MP to stop the probe into whether he lied over Partygate.

Senior Conservative MPs have discussed urging Mr Johnson to quit Parliament at the same time as stepping down as Prime Minister on September 6, amid concerns the inquiry would continue to engulf the party in scandal.

The Commons Privileges Committee has begun gathering evidence for its investigation into whether he misled Parliament.

A former Tory Cabinet Minister told The Mail on Sunday: ‘We should make clear to Boris that if he stands down, the Privileges Committee will be told to drop the inquiry. But if he sticks around – he gets interviewed, Carrie gets interviewed, it all drags into November. Labour won’t let it go away.’

The MP added: ‘I would tell him to step down, go off to America, then try and come back in the hope people will have forgiven and forgotten.’

Police issued Mr Johnson with a Fixed Penalty Notice for breaking Covid laws at a birthday party for him in Downing Street in June 2020. The seven-strong committee, which has a majority of Tory MPs, is expected to present its report in the autumn.

Its chair, Labour grandee Harriet Harman, has called for committee members to visit Downing Street to inspect the sites where the parties took place.

The MPs have also demanded diaries, photographs, WhatsApp messages and door logs relating to events in Downing Street.

Chris Bryant, the Labour MP who chaired the Privileges Committee before standing down for the duration of the inquiry, told The Mail on Sunday it would only be dropped if the Commons rescinded the original motion for it to investigate Mr Johnson – and the Government would need to table a motion to do so. ‘Which Prime Minister is going to table that? It would be imperilling their future,’ he added.

A Downing Street source said Mr Johnson has no plans to quit Parliament. ‘He’s very much intending to stay as an MP.’