Lia Nici invokes Grimsby common-sense as she backs Boris Johnson in Commons – but then does not vote for him

Great Grimsby’s MP Lia Nici defended Boris Johnson in a Commons debate of the Partygate report, but then did not vote to stop him losing his Parliamentary pass.

Northern Lincolnshire’s four Conservative MPs were split in their views on the former prime minister’s conduct. Mr Johnson resigned as an MP on June 9 ahead of a report by the Commons Privileges Committee into whether he knowlingly or recklessly misled parliament over the Partygate affair.

The committee, made up of seven MPs, including four Conservatives, published their report last week. It found Boris Johnson misled parliament multiple times.

Read more: Lia Nici claims Boris Johnson ‘did more for Grimsby than any other politician in generations, if ever’

Mr Johnson labelled the process a “kangaroo court” and “witch hunt”. Because he had resigned already, the only relevant sanction MPs could vote for was to remove his Parliamentary pass, which is given to former MPs.

Lia Nici, formerly Mr Johnson’s parliamentary private secretary, defended his old boss. “I cannot see where the evidence is that Boris Johnson misled Parliament knowingly, intentionally or recklessly,” she said during the debate. “I am from Grimsby, and I have to say it as I see it.”

She argued the report was not impartial. “I have to say that I do respect the amount of hard work put into the report, but if, in my former job as a college lecturer, I was grading this, I would say it is not impartial.

“It says Boris Johnson ‘claimed’ and Boris Johnson ‘purported’, and that is not impartial language. Therefore, in my opinion, the report is not impartial in the way it is written.”

Ms Nici laid the blame for Partygate at the door of unelected officials, who did not report law-breaking during lockdown to Mr Johnson when he was prime minister. She said Mr Johnson had been “horrified to read what had been going on” when details of law-breaking emerged in Sue Gray’s Partygate report last year.

Challenged by Labour MP Jess Phillips if she thought Boris Johnson had lied to her, Ms Nici said she did not believe that he had. “I think I am a very good person who can see character, and I saw what was going on in and around No. 10 on that day. Sadly, I believe that some unelected officials – many are very good and professional – made a choice not to inform the then prime minister because they wanted to cover their own backs. I am very sad to say that.”

Her speech defending Boris Johnson lasted 12 minutes, including interruptions. But when the vote came to accept the committee report and its recommendation to remove his members’ pass, she abstained. On an interview with 5 Live Breakfast on June 16, Ms Nici indicated she had planned to vote against.

Brigg and Goole MP Andrew Percy also did not vote. By contrast, Cleethorpes MP Martin Vickers voted to accept the report, which was accepted by 354-7 votes.

He said it was comprehensive and that after speaking to leading members of the Conservative Party and constituents he felt that he should back it. “It is vital that we can rely on ministers when at the dispatch box give honest answers and, if they subsequently realise they have erred then they immediately correct the record and I was pleased with the decisive result,” he added.

Scunthorpe MP Holly Mumby-Croft joined him in voting to remove Boris Johnson’s ex-MP pass. Nine months ago, Ms Mumby-Croft, along with Ms Nici, was one of around 100 MPs to back the potential return of Boris Johnson as PM after Liz Truss’s premiership came to an abrupt end.

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