Bozo’s Gofers Face Contempt Rap

This week is turning out to be a bad one for the Government, the Tory party more generally, and the legacy of disgraced former alleged Prime Minister Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. And as of this morning, it is turning out to be an especially difficult week for those who have been fetching and carrying for Bozo, as the Privileges Committee has rounded upon them.

While the punditerati has been digesting the bad news from the Court of Appeal - that the Tories’ so-called Rwanda Policy has been deemed illegal, with the BBC reporting that “Rwanda had not provided sufficient safeguards to prove it is a ‘safe third country’, senior Court of Appeal judges ruled in a split decision”, there has been more bad news for Bozo’s faithful acolytes.

As the Beeb has also reported, “Former ministers Nadine Dorries and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg have been accused of waging a co-ordinated campaign to interfere with a Commons investigation into Boris Johnson …the committee accused the allies of Mr Johnson of mounting ‘vociferous attacks’ on its work … The report suggested attempts to ‘impugn the integrity of the committee’ or ‘lobby or intimidate’ committee members could be a contempt of Parliament”.

Any names being pitched? There certainly are: “Former Home Secretary Dame Priti Patel and serving Foreign Office Minister Lord Zac Goldsmith were also among the seven MPs and three peers identified as attacking the committee. The others [included] Tory MPs Mark Jenkinson, Sir Michael Fabricant, Brendan Clarke-Smith and Dame Andrea Jenkyns”.

One does not need to wonder for too long as to who nominated all those Sirs, Dames and one Lord for their gongs. Or, following the sneering and dismissive reaction of Bozo boosters the perpetually thirsty Paul Staines and his rabble at the Guido Fawkes blog, how the pro-Johnson press will react.

There was more. “The report, by the cross-party Privileges Committee, said ‘unprecedented and co-ordinated pressure’ was placed on committee members, which … raised significant security concerns … It pointed to ‘disturbing’ comments on social media and TV, which it said amounted to a ‘co-ordinated campaign to interfere with the work of the committee’”.

Do go on. “Referencing Ms Dorries's show on TalkTV and Sir Jacob's GB News role, the committee added that two of the individuals mounting ‘the most vociferous attacks’ used their own TV programmes as a platform to do so. Ms Dorries … described the committee as a ‘kangaroo court’, Sir Jacob [called] it ‘a political committee against Boris Johnson’”.

And while Rees Mogg and Clarke Smith, among others, have tried to claim that this is about their FREEZE PEACH, “The committee's report said free speech was ‘at the heart of parliamentary democracy’, but some politicians had interfered with disciplinary proceedings set up by the Commons in an ‘unacceptable’ way”. Also, the attacks did not enjoy Parliamentary immunity.

Worse news for Bozo’s pals was that “Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt said the fact a debate had been scheduled on the report showed ‘how seriously the government takes these matters’ … She added that it was ‘vital’ that MPs were prepared to serve on the Privileges Committee”. And not be intimidated by unprincipled charlatans like Bozo. And his useful idiots.

Or intimidated by the Bozo fan club in our free and fearless press. As LBC host James O’Brien has observed, “The direction of travel to a place where politicians accuse their colleagues of running 'kangaroo courts' & 'withc-hunts' was determined when Paul Dacre started attacking High Court judges & serving MPs with mug-shot style photographs & 'Enemies of the People' headlines”. The Mail will resume its campaign of hatred tomorrow.

After all, the Daily Brexit, still called the Express, attempted to intimidate the Appeal Court judges this morning with its howling “DON’T YOU DARE BLOCK BOATS BILL”, and a “source” telling “We will not be doing this the polite way. There will be a showdown”. More hate speech.

But there is a silver lining: if those MPs who went after the Privileges Committee in order to defend the indefensible are confirmed to be in contempt of Parliament, a decent length suspension and we could be looking at a string of by-elections which the Tories are ideally equipped to lose. All featuring defending Tory candidates the Commons could well do without.

And all the while, a General Election gets nearer. Just rejoice at that news.

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