Boris Johnson represents the worst hypocrisy I have seen over 43 years as Huddersfield MP - Barry Sheerman

I would like to make it abundantly clear that I share these concerns and frustrations.

Boris Johnson has shown contempt for the sacrifices made by the British people and his inability to tell the truth has critically wounded our most precious institutions.

The screeching U-turn by the Government this week, dropping their three-line whip on backbenchers to vote against Labour’s Privilege Motion, demonstrates the Prime Minister’s flailing leadership and dysfunctional relationship with his parliamentary party.

The British public made the most unimaginable, heart-wrenching sacrifices during the pandemic.

Many were overcome with guilt – guilt at not seeing elderly relatives, not going to funerals or weddings, or even seeing the birth of their own children.

But the guilty men are the Prime Minister and Chancellor. They’ve dishonoured all that sacrifice; they’ve dishonoured their offices.

This is the first time in the history of our country that a Prime Minister has been found to be in breach of the law and referred to the Committee of Privileges.

He has repeatedly misled MPs and the public, smashing up every moral convention that underpins trust in our democracy.

It is unacceptable. I feel the justified and legitimate anger from across Huddersfield and beyond.

People across the country stuck to the rules and made immense personal sacrifices on the understanding that we were all in this together.

The public gave up so much in a show of national solidarity to save and protect lives.

All the while, within Downing Street, at the height of lockdown, the Prime Minister set a culture where there were parties to which over 100 people were invited.

Throughout my 43 years in Parliament, I have never seen such hypocrisy from within the heart of Government.

It is nothing less than a national scandal.

The Office of Prime Minister demands a holder that is a model of honesty, integrity, and respect.

Prime Ministers from all parties have understood this in the past.

Boris Johnson falls far short on all three counts.

He has shown that he is incapable of changing and must do the honourable thing and resign.

His position is untenable, the U-turn to abstain on the Privileges Motion demonstrates this.

Clearly the Tory whips were spooked by the exodus of their own backbenchers out of London on Wednesday night.

There’s a lesson there in asking people to defend the indefensible.

Once more, the Prime Minister finds himself with little to no credibility, or authority, to deliver on his party’s manifesto.

By resigning he would ensure that trust and confidence endure in our politics.

The constant stream of scandals from Number 10 has eroded the trust between politicians and the public. This Prime Minister is without authority, incapable of honesty and devoid of integrity. He must go.

The ministerial code was established to protect our institutions from dishonest and corrupt behaviour.

It forms part of a catalogue of conventions that govern behaviour in public life and ensures our politicians play by the highest standards.

The Prime Minister must not be allowed to undermine these conventions. They are the crucial stones in our democratic structure that ensure our institutions remain healthy and uncorrupted.

The convention that ministers do not mislead Parliament isn’t just a friendly rule, but it allows for the flourishing of healthy debate and the strengthening of our democracy.

It means accusations of lying and cheating are not thrown about the chamber.

It means we debate in good faith and uphold the British values of honesty, integrity, and respect.

As Keir Starmer said in the Chamber on Thursday, these are the fundamental pillars on which our constitution is built, and they are observed wherever parliamentary democracy thrives.

Boris Johnson now faces an investigation into whether he misled Parliament on lockdown parties.

Ministers who have been found to have misled Parliament are expected to resign.

This week the constitutionally correct process by which MPs are investigated for breaking the rules was initiated, even as the PM tried to wriggle his way out of it.

If the motion was rejected, it would have undermined decades of constitutional convention and a process that has existed, in some form or another, since the 17th century.

Let us be glad it wasn’t.

But let us not forget that Boris Johnson tried, once again, to bend the rules for his own purposes.

It is now over to the Committee of Privileges to investigate this flailing Prime Minister. The saga continues.

Mr Sheerman has represented Huddersfield – and previously the former Huddersfield East constituency – in Parliament since 1979.