The Privileges Committee was tasked with considering whether Boris Johnson misled Parliament over his partygate claims, but who are its members?
Made up of seven MPs, four of the committee’s members are from the Conservative Party, while two are from Labour and one is from the SNP.
The chair of the committee must always be from the official opposition, with Labour’s Harriet Harman unanimously elected to the role in June 2022.
– Harriet Harman KC
Ms Harman, 72, is the Labour MP for Camberwell and Peckham. An MP since 1982, she served as secretary of state for social security and minister for women under Tony Blair. She has also had terms as solicitor general for England and Wales, and leader of the House of Commons.
As chair of the committee, Ms Harman has been repeatedly targeted for criticism by Mr Johnson. In his response to the committee’s report, the former Prime Minister accused her of holding “prejudicial views”.
Similarly, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg accused her of not being “the right person” to lead the inquiry because “she had publicly tweeted her criticisms and her disbelief in Boris Johnson”.
– Sir Bernard Jenkin
Mr Johnson said that one of the committee’s arguments was “so threadbare” that it belonged “in one of Bernard Jenkin’s nudist colonies”. The former Prime Minister has urged Mr Jenkin to resign over an allegation that he broke lockdown rules at a 2020 drinks party in Parliament.
– Allan Dorans
Mr Dorans, 67, the Scottish National Party MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock. A former police officer and teacher, he was part of the 2019 intake.
The committee had considered whether it should have recommended expelling Mr Johnson from the Commons. During discussion of the report’s final findings, Mr Dorans, along with Labour’s Yvonne Fovargue, backed recommending that Mr Johnson be expelled from the Commons. However, the amendment was opposed by the committee’s Conservative members.
– Yvonne Fovargue
Ms Fovargue, 66, is the Labour MP for Makerfield, Manchester, and has been an MP since May 2010. She was the CEO of St Helens Citizens Advice Bureau for 20 years before becoming an MP.A member of the Unite trade union, she has previously been a shadow education minister.
Mr Costa, 51, is the Conservative MP for South Leicestershire. An MP since 2015, he was born to Italian parents in Scotland. Before entering politics he had a career as a solicitor, and worked at the Treasury’s solicitor’s department. He opposed Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.
– Sir Charles Walker
Sir Charles, 55, is the Conservative MP for Broxbourne, and has been an MP since 2005. In February 2022, he announced that he would be stepping down at the next general election, saying that politics had become a “pretty toxic environment”.
He was the fifth Tory MP to call for Liz Truss to resign, later saying of her Government that he had “had enough of talentless people”.
– Andy Carter
Mr Carter, 49, is the Conservative MP for Warrington South, a marginal constituency. Part of the 2019 intake, he had a career in radio before entering politics.
In May 2023, he announced that he would be standing down as an MP at the next election.
