The Tories must end their civil war centring on Boris Johnson, a Cabinet minister has said, as he defended Rishi Sunak’s decision to dodge the vote branding him a liar.
Mel Stride said on Monday that the “caravan has got to move on” from the former prime minister after the Commons overwhelmingly backed the sanctions against him.
But Mr Sunak has been accused of a “cowardly cop-out” by avoiding the vote on the Privileges Committee’s findings that Mr Johnson deliberately misled MPs over partygate.
The Prime Minister was accused by Labour of being “too weak” to stand up to his predecessor, who still commands a fan base among Conservative voters.
Mr Stride said Mr Sunak had been busy with “long-standing events” including hosting his Swedish counterpart, Ulf Kristersson, on Monday and did not want to exert pressure on colleagues.
The Work and Pensions Secretary told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t think it is odd that he should be in a position before a vote which is a free vote in which he has made clear it is for the House to decide on these matters.
“I don’t think it’s odd that under those circumstances he wouldn’t want to weigh in and start suggesting a particular course of action.”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said Mr Sunak had “committed a cowardly cop-out”.
Mr Stride told Times Radio he totally accepts the committee’s findings and defended it from attacks, saying its members acted with “absolute integrity” and “diligence”.
But he said he abstained because the 90-day suspension that would have been recommended if Mr Johnson had not resigned in anticipation of the findings made him feel “quite uneasy”.
“My hope is that Boris Johnson, the current Cabinet… that we can all row together now and focus on what people really care about,” he added.
Only seven MPs voted against the report, with even some of Mr Johnson’s staunchest allies abstaining.
But the vote has deepened the tensions with the Tory party, which have seen the former prime minister openly criticising Mr Sunak.
Much of the Government payroll did not take part in the vote but some Cabinet ministers including Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt and Justice Secretary Alex Chalk chose to support it.
Joy Morrissey, who was appointed assistant whip by Mr Johnson and continues to hold the role under Mr Sunak, said she joined those voting against the “deeply flawed” report.
“This report with all its flaws risks a chilling impact on the rights of parliamentarians and I felt I needed to make a stand against that. It sets precedents that will last long and reach deep,” she wrote on her website.
Debating the report, Tory former premier Theresa May urged Conservatives to “show that we are prepared to act when one of our own, however senior, is found wanting”.
Mr Johnson will be denied the pass to Parliament usually granted to former MPs after the sanction recommended by the cross-party committee was endorsed by 354 votes.
Mr Stride said Mr Johnson is in a “difficult situation”, adding to Today: “I think really the caravan has got to move on from Boris Johnson, with respect.”
But a row continues over Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list after a video emerged of a mid-lockdown party at Conservative Campaign Headquarters attended by Tory politician Shaun Bailey.
If there’s anything to come of this I really encourage Mr Sunak to now draw a line under Boris Johnson's tenure and indeed influence over the parliamentary party— Tobias Ellwood
Senior Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood said the former London mayoral candidate should reconsider the peerage handed to him by the former prime minister.
The former minister told Today that there are “big questions” surrounding it, adding: “Absolutely he needs to consider that, if I’m frank.”
He urged Mr Sunak to “grasp” the wider issue of peerages, adding: “You can’t simply have prime ministers stuffing the Lords with their friends.”
Mr Ellwood added: “If there’s anything to come of this I really encourage Mr Sunak to now draw a line under Boris Johnson’s tenure and indeed influence over the parliamentary party.”
Mr Stride suggested there could be a way to remove Mr Bailey’s peerage if the Metropolitan Police come to a damning conclusion about the event in December 2020.
“There are then mechanisms involving the Forfeiture Committee that can lead to changes to honours that have been given in the past. But I don’t want to start pre-judging that process,” he told Today.
However, the Forfeiture Committee deals with honours such as knighthoods rather than peerages, which can only be removed by an act of Parliament.
