Penny Mordaunt has said kicking Boris Johnson off the Privy Council would not be “an appropriate course of action”, as the threshold for that is “much higher”.
The Commons Leader’s comments came as Liberal Democrat Wera Hobhouse (Bath) told the Commons the former British prime minister’s actions were not “right” and were not “honourable”, as she raised concerns about institutional integrity.
She urged Ms Mordaunt, in her role as Lord President of the Privy Council, to make a statement on whether she would recommend stripping Mr Johnson of his membership to the body.
The Privy Council is a body of senior advisers to the British monarch, and its members can be called “right honourable” due to their positions in government or their contributions to public service.
In response, the Commons Leader highlighted that any decision regarding the removal of an individual from the Privy Council would require advice from the UK prime minister to the king, expressing her preference for keeping the monarchy out of such matters.
She also emphasised that the threshold for removing someone is considerably higher than the situation discussed, for example “someone having committed financial fraud”.
Ms Hobhouse’s call follows a debate on Monday, in which MPs voted to approve the Privileges Committee report, which found Mr Johnson deliberately misled Parliament over parties at Downing Street during lockdown.
Speaking at business questions, the Lib Dem MP said: “Supporting the Privileges Committee report into Boris Johnson, she (Penny Mordaunt) said earlier this week, the integrity of our institutions matter.
“Mr Johnson’s actions were not right and they were not honourable. The Leader of the House is also Lord President of the Privy Council. Can we have a statement from her in her role of Lord President on whether she would recommend that Boris Johnson be stripped of his role as right and honourable privy councillor?”
Ms Mordaunt said she understands why Ms Hobhouse and other MPs are “cross” at Mr Johnson, but added: “What I would say to her is that, as a matter of information, that such a thing would be advice from the Prime Minister given to the King.
“And I would prefer His Majesty be kept out of such matters. But I also would say to her that where people have been booted off the Privy Council before, the threshold for that is much higher than the situation that we were discussing on Monday.
“For example, someone having committed financial fraud. So I would say to her, I understand where she’s coming from and her motivation, the integrity in all of these systems is very important, as I spoke about on Monday, but I don’t think this is an appropriate course of action in this instance.”
Earlier, the Commons Leader also passionately defended MPs who abstained or voted against the committee’s findings, countering claims that they were “cowards” and emphasising their “honourable” service to the country.
Ms Mordaunt, who led the debate on the report, said: “There have been some of her colleagues that have pointed to my colleagues and called them cowards. I do not have time to look into the character of each of those colleagues that were not in the same lobby as us, but of those Conservative members that abstained or voted against the Privileges Committee, I can say that 20 of them are veterans.
“Between them, they have more than 253 years of service, I don’t know how many medals they have between them, but I do know one of them has a DSO.
“These people are not cowards, they are honourable and decent people and they have done what they thought is right.
“I would say to anyone beating up on members of this House for voting one way or another or abstaining, even though I no longer have a sword: back off.”
Shadow Commons leader Thangam Debbonaire had earlier questioned why the UK prime minister had not taken part in the vote, telling MPs: “Can I thank the leader for stepping up while the Prime Minister stepped aside on Monday’s vote to start restoring trust in democracy?”
She added: “If so many of them found the strength to do the right thing, why couldn’t the Prime Minister? Not only did he fail to vote, he was too weak to utter a single word of substance on this issue.
“We do not know where this prime minister stands on standards.”
