MPs will vote today on whether to support a report that found Boris Johnson intentionally deceived Parliament about lockdown parties in No. 10.

A year-long investigation by the Commons privileges committee found that the former prime minister committed multiple offenses with his Partygate denials.

If he had remained an MP, it is recommended that he be suspended from the Commons for 90 days.

Rishi Sunak has yet to say if he will vote on the report’s findings.

Tory MPs will have a free vote, which means that party officials, known as whips, will not tell them what to do during the vote, which is anticipated to take place on Monday evening following a discussion.

The report is expected to be easily approved, but it is uncertain whether a vote will be taken, with Mr Johnson urging his allies not to vote against it.

Gove said he would not vote for the Johnson Partygate report.
Tory MPs are divided by the Johnson Partygate vote.
A summary of the Boris Johnson Partygate investigation
Some Conservative MPs are expected to abstain or refuse to participate.

Housing Secretary Michael Gove, who formerly served in Mr Johnson’s cabinet, has declared his intention to abstain, making him the only member of the Sunak Cabinet to state his intentions.

On Sunday, he told the BBC that while Mr Johnson’s behavior had fallen short of standards in several areas, he disagreed with the report’s suggestion of a 90-day suspension.

The vote is politically difficult for the prime minister, who is locked in a quarrel with his former employer over his retirement honors list.

Mr Sunak promised to put “integrity” at the core of his government upon entering Downing Street, and he will face pressure from opposition MPs to adopt the cross-party committee’s findings.

However, voting for it would irritate Mr Johnson’s followers, some of whom have criticized the committee’s findings.

Mr Johnson called the committee a “kangaroo court” in a furious statement announcing his retirement as an MP before the report was released.

Commons votes are first conducted by voice, with a division – in which MPs go through the voting lobbies to record their support – called only if the Speaker believes the outcome is not evident.

Opposition MPs are likely to vote “aye” later to accept the report, but if no MP in the house votes “no,” there will be no division, and individual MPs’ votes will not be recorded.

The privileges committee stated in their findings that Mr Johnson deliberately deceived MPs when he assured them following the Partygate affair that lockdown rules were always observed at No 10.

During the hearing, Mr Johnson said that his assurances were given in good faith and were based on advice from officials.

However, the MPs discovered that he had “personal knowledge” of rule-breaking events and had failed to “pro-actively” examine charges that Covid guidelines were broken during the pandemic.

Parliamentary approval
They found that he had committed repeated “contempts” of Parliament, including assaulting the committee, which they said justified the 90-day ban, which is unusually long by recent standards.

The study also suggests that Mr Johnson be denied a parliamentary pass, which he is entitled to as an ex-MP.

Several of Mr Johnson’s supporters have slammed the committee’s findings.

Culture secretary in Mr Johnson’s cabinet, Nadine Dorries, claimed the committee had “overreached,” warning that any Tory MP voting to support it would be “held to account” by party members.

However, it is unclear how many of his supporters will eventually show up to voice their objections.