Jacob Rees-Mogg brandishes 108-page Boris report as he tears aside findings

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg brandished a duplicate of the report condemning Boris Johnson throughout a bitter Commons debate at the moment.

The Conservative former Cabinet minister got here armed with a printed copy of the 108-page doc by the Privileges Committee which discovered the previous PM lied to Parliament together with his partygate denials.

Sir Jacob went by way of sections of the report throughout his 10-minute speech to MPs.

He stated: “It is perfectly reasonable to challenge the views of select committees of this House. It is neither eccentric nor indeed rare.

“So I ought to like to start out with a few of the issues I believe are most contentious throughout the report, bordering on inaccurate.”

The Tory MP also criticised the sanctions recommended by the cross-party committee, including depriving Mr Johnson of the parliamentary pass usually given to MPs.

Addressing the proposed 90-day suspension from the Commons, he said: “A vindictive sanction, it appears to me, which they cannot implement as a result of Mr Johnson has left Parliament.

“So they go from the vindictive to the ridiculous with not allowing him a parliamentary pass.”

Drawing to the top of his speech, Sir Jacob once more defended criticism of the committee.

He additionally advised MPs: “It is absolutely legitimate to criticise the conduct of a committee, to criticise the members of a committee. That is politics.

“Our politics is adversarial and that I imagine is likely one of the nice strengths of our political system.

“It is open to us within this chamber to accuse people within the bounds of good order of saying things that we disagree with. Outside this chamber freedom of speech is paramount.”

He added: “We must defend the right of freedom of speech. And, frankly, if politicians cannot cope with criticism you wonder what on earth they are doing with a political career.”

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