Boris Johnson was ditched by his allies, David Cameron heckled and Rishi Sunak branded 'weak' in a triple day of shame for the Conservative party.
MPs approved the Partygate lies report, with Boris' spectacular downfall coming to a crashing end - with just seven sticking by his side.
The former PM’s political career ended on a pathetic whimper after the Commons agreed with a committee’s findings that he deliberately misled the House over Westminster boozy get-togethers.
And Rishi Sunak was branded weak for not even showing up to vote on the report, along with dozens of other cowardly Tories.
The PM scurried off to a charity dinner rather than show leadership and condemn Johnson for lying over the lockdown parties, that were first exposed by the Mirror in 2021.
Shadow Commons Leader Thangam Debonnaire said: “He has shown he is too weak to stand up to Boris Johnson and his sycophants, which is profoundly dangerous because if we can’t have a Prime Minister that stands up for standards what have we got?”
“If the Prime Minister can’t even show leadership when it comes to holding liars to account, how can he expect the people of this country to trust him on anything?”
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting tweeted: “WEAK.”
Apart from a handful of ultra-loyal Johnson supporters, including Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Tories who did turn up to vote laid into their ex-boss.
Theresa May, PM from July 2016 to July 2019, praised the panel’s “rigorous” investigation as she had her say on Johnson’s behaviour.
She said: “This committee report matters, this debate matters and this vote matters.
“They matter because they strike at the heart of the bond of trust and respect between the public and Parliament that underpin the workings of our democracy. If people see us making rules for them and acting as if they are not for us, that trust is undermined.
“It is important to show the public that there is not one rule for them and another for us.
“I believe we have a greater responsibility than most to uphold the rules and set an example.” Mrs May called on other Tories to support the report’s findings, telling them they needed to demonstrate they could punish rule-breaking MPs.
She added: “It is doubly important for us to show that we are prepared to act when one of our own, however senior, is found wanting.”
Harriet Harman, chair of the Privileges Committee that ruled Johnson had lied and was complicit in a campaign of abuse and intimidation of its members after branding the probe a “kangaroo court”, agreed.
She said: “Even if you’re the Prime Minister, especially if you’re the Prime Minister, you must tell the truth to Parliament.” Ms Harman also praised former Mirror Political Editor Pippa Crerar for breaking the sensational story of 2020 Downing Street parties.
She said the wrongdoing would not have been unearthed had the press not “doggedly investigated” and added: “Many journalists played their part and in particular I want to mention Pippa Crerar.”
And Ms Harman defended herself against claims of bias after Mr Rees-Mogg highlighted her tweets criticising Johnson before the committee probe.
She told the Tory, who was knighted in the ex-PM’s resignation list: “I said I am more than happy to step aside and I don’t want to do this if the Government doesn’t have confidence in me. I was assured that I should continue the work that the House had mandated with the appointment that the House had put me into.”
Ms Debonnaire said: “Mr Johnson undermined and attacked our democratic institutions, a far cry from a Prime Minister this country can be proud of. He lied to this House, to the people of this country and, when exposed, lashed out at the system designed to hold all of us to account.”
Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt told MPs: “The committee’s report found Mr Johnson deliberately misled the House and committee and committed a serious contempt. It also found Mr Johnson was complicit in a campaign of abuse and attempted intimidation of the committee.” She also took a swipe at his resignation honours list, suggesting he was to blame for “the debasement of our honours system”.
Johnson flounced out of the Commons earlier this month, triggering a by-election in Uxbridge and South Ruislip.
Had he not resigned, the committee recommended he should face a 90-day suspension.
It also ordered he be stripped of his Commons pass, which gives former MPs access to the parliamentary estate. Johnson had come under fire for his honours list, which was full of cronies and Partygate aides, one of which was seen boozing in a video of a Christmas party in 2020, published by the Mirror.
Keir Starmer yesterday said Mr Sunak was wrong to wave the list through.
And when asked if he would dish out gongs as an outgoing PM, the Labour leader replied: “No. It is very hard to justify.”
David Cameron heckled
Meanwhile David Cameron was heckled – including shouts of “shame on you” – after he gave evidence at the Covid Inquiry.
It is claimed his years of austerity while in power left the UK woefully underprepared for the virus.
Mr Cameron said the government he led between 2010 and 2016 focused too heavily on preparations for fighting a wave of flu virus, rather than a Covid-like pandemic.
He said: “I think it was a mistake not to look more at the range of different types of pandemic.”
The ex-Prime Minister was shown a document from a meeting of experts in 2015 that suggested coronaviruses and respiratory diseases were “a clear and present danger”.
Asked whether he remembers the assessment, he said he does not “recall a specific conversation” but added he had been “very concerned” about potential pandemics. In the first evidence from a senior politician to the inquiry, the former Tory leader said his austerity agenda was “essential” to get the economy “back to health” after the financial crash.
