Prime minister declines to say whether he agrees with Tory MPs who describe privileges inquiry as biased
On BBC Breakfast this morning Rishi Sunak was primarily responding to the Louise Casey report about the Metropolitan police. As my colleague Jamie Grierson reports, he sidestepped a question about whether his daughters could trust the force.
If you want to know why Rishi Sunak refused to engage at all this morning with the question about whether the inquiry by the privileges committee into Boris Johnson is biased or unfair (see 9.18am), a survey of Tory party members by the ConservativeHome website this morning provides the answer. ConHome surveys are a reliable guide to membership opinion, and this one suggests a majority of members (59%) do think the inquiry is unfair, and a significant minority (25%) are committed Johnsonites who want him back as leader before the next election.
In sum, a majority of the panel believes he broke lockdown rules, but didn’t deliberately mislead the Commons over breaches in Number Ten; think the Privileges Committee inquiry into his conduct is unfair, and believe that he should be a Tory parliamentary candidate at the next election … but that he shouldn’t return as Conservative leader and Prime Minister (at least before then).
The way I read it, about a quarter of the panel are determined Johnson backers and under a fifth are dedicated Johnson critics – see the last two questions and answers.
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