Veteran Labour MP Harriet Harman is to lead the Commons committee investigation into whether Boris Johnson misled parliament with his comments during the Partygate scandal.
The former cabinet minister will be in charge of the privileges committee inquiry after usual chair Labour MP Chris Bryant recused him over his public condemnation about the PM.
Known as the “Mother of the House” given her status as the longest-continuously-serving woman in parliament, Ms Harman was viewed as a figure that could command the respect of MPs of all parties.
On Tuesday MPs will be asked to nod through a motion – backed by the government’s deputy chief whip – for Ms Harman to chair the investigation in place of Mr Bryant.
Reports suggest the Conservatives are still looking for MPs with a “neutral” attitude to Mr Johnson to sit on the committee, since two current Tory members are government aides.
The current membership of the committee includes four Tory MPs, two Labour MPs, and one SNP MP.
Last month, Mr Bryant sent a letter to the committee saying he would recuse himself since it was vital for the probe to take place “without any imputation of unfairness” following his public criticism of Mr Johnson.
Mr Johnson has defied calls to quit after the demining Sue Gray report into parties held at Downing Street during the Covid pandemic, and has continued to deny that he misled parliament.
If the privileges committee finds him in contempt of parliament, it could recommend he is forced to apologise, suspended from the Commons, or even expelled. Any sanction would need to be approved in a vote by all MPs.
The prime minister is, in theory, safe from another no-confidence vote in his own party for another 12 months, after narrowly winning a ballot among Tory MPs earlier last week.
But speculation has been rife that rebel Tories could push for a change in the year-long grace period rule if opposition to Mr Johnson in the party grows even larger.
Former Brexit minister David Davis recently said Mr Johnson could be deposed in a wider Commons vote if a privileges committee inquiry finds that he misled parliament.
“If that happened, I suspect there would be big, big debates in the house, ending up with a vote on his ability to continue his tenure as prime minister,” he said. “But let’s wait and see how it plays out.”
