Boris Johnson has been slammed by the SNP’s Ian Blackford for avoiding scrutiny in the House of Commons.
The SNP Westminster leader raised an urgent question on Tuesday asking why the Prime Minister failed to come to the Commons to report on his visit to India last week.
Blackford said it was a convention for Prime Ministers to “have a duty to update the House on their attendance at major summits are following significant visit.”
He added: “This convention has been respected and followed by all Prime Ministers in recent years. But like on so many other matters, the only exception to that rule is a current Prime Minister.”
Opposition parties suspect Johnson avoided reporting to the Commons so that MPs would not have the opportunity to tackle him on partygate or the sexist slur against Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner.
Blackford said: “There is a very clear pattern here. This is a Prime Minister who has no respect for the office he occupies and even less respect for this House."
Johnson will face the Commons on Wednesday for Prime Minister’s Questions but the government is proroguing parliament on Thursday, meaning that there will be no business next week in the lead up to the Queen’s Speech on Tuesday 10 May.
This means Tory MPs will not be able to meet in person to chew over the results of the local government elections before the spectacle of the State Opening and a new parliamentary session.
The expected Conservative wipe out in council elections in England and Scotland on Thursday 5 May could be the trigger for a move by Tory MPs to depose Johnson.
Blackford commented: “The Prime Minister should have come to this House and given an update he has once again failed to do so.
"Instead he chose to do campaigning for his party in the local elections, though I suspect that won’t do them much good.”
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