Dr Sarah Lieberman discusses a cross-party report which will be discussed in parliament today, which found that former Prime Minister Boris Johnson repeatedly lied and misled parliament, on holding gatherings at Number 10 during lockdown.

Last week the Privileges Committee – a cross-party committee of MPs – released their report on “partygate”. The report states that the Committee came to the conclusion that Boris Johnson did hold covid rule-breaking events during lockdown and that he then deliberately mislead the House of Commons by saying first that there were no parties, and second that he had no knowledge of those parties, and third that he thought those parties were in line with the rules. The Committee suggested that Johnson be suspended from the House of Commons.

The former Prime Minister saw the report a week before its release and decided to resign rather than take any punishment. However, in his resignation letter, Johnson revealed details of the report and also questioned the integrity of the Committee. This increased his suspension to an unprecedented 90 days.

The story is not, however, over… Today, the Privileges Committee report will be debated in parliament, and a vote may be held on it. I say ‘may’, because, there is a strong possibility that when the Speaker asks if the house approves the report, everyone says AYE, and the report passes through the House of Commons on the ‘nod’.

If it goes through on the nod, there will be no vote and we will not find out how much support Johnson retains in the Conservative Party.  Boris Johnson has said he does not want his allies to vote against the report: it is clear the Committee Report will pass, and we must assume he would prefer not to have his lack of continued support announced in public. However, it will only take one NO in the Commons for a vote to be triggered – and if not done by a Boris supporter, this could be done by the opposition, to illustrate the dwindling support enjoyed by the former PM.

None of Kent’s MPs would speak this morning on BBC Radio Kent, Mondays are always busy, but only Tom Tugenhat was willing to state on which side of the division he would position himself.

The biggest decision will lie with Rishi Sunak. Does he cause further strife between himself and the former PM by voting for the report? Or should he vote against the report and risk being seen by the public as complicit in the lies? He could miss the debate and avoid the vote by abstaining – he suggested this morning that this is a case for Parliament rather than government – but this is likely to draw allegations of weakness. Indeed, Kier Starmer has already said Sunak must show leadership on this.

This vote is not about how Boris Johnson should be punished. And it is not about people attending illegal gatherings in lockdown – these issues have been decided. This is a vote about integrity, truth, how we expect our politicians to behave. The Electorate will be watching.

Dr Sarah Lieberman is Senior Lecturer in the School of Politics and International Relations and Course Director for MSc Security and International Relations.