Portsmouth and Hampshire MPs react to vote to investigate Boris Johnson over Partygate

MPs have agreed to refer Prime Minister Boris Johnson for a parliamentary investigation into whether he lied to the Commons about Downing Street parties taking place during coronavirus lockdowns.

The government was forced to abandon an attempt to order Conservative MPs to vote for a delay in setting up an investigation as the scale of discontent on the Tory benches was laid bare.

With Tory whips deciding not to formally oppose Labour’s motion, there is not a published list of how each MP voted.

Conservative MP for Portsmouth North Penny Mordaunt said the vote could be a positive step out of the ongoing scandal.

The MP said: ‘I hope it, and the many speeches today on why these things are important, will help restore trust.’

But Labour MP for Portsmouth South Stephen Morgan was more critical, saying that he voted for the motion to investigate the PM.

Mr Morgan said: ‘The Prime Minister broke the Covid laws he instructed millions of others to follow, in Downing Street, and then lied about it.

‘That’s why I’m voting for this cross-party motion for the Privileges Committee to investigate whether he knowingly lied to Parliament, in addition to the people of Portsmouth and the country.

‘In a day of chaos from the Tories, the Prime Minister didn’t even have the confidence in his own Conservative colleagues to back him and at the eleventh hour, dropped the whip.

Meanwhile Fareham’s Conservative MP Suella Braverman said the PM retained her ‘strong support’.

The MP said: ‘He has delivered time and time again for our country and is leading the world in support for Ukraine. What people in Fareham care about is how to ease the cost of living pressures, fix our broken asylum system and access better NHS and social care services.’

The investigation by the privileges committee will not begin until police inquiries have concluded.