A long-awaited report that will find Boris Johnson misled parliament over Partygate has been signed off by the privileges committee, marking the end of a year-long inquiry that saw him quit the Commons in fury at its findings.
Seven MPs on the cross-party group, which has a Tory majority and Labour chair, held multiple meetings on Tuesday and endorsed the report at around 7pm, the Guardian has been told.
A damning assessment of Johnson’s promise that no Covid rules were broken and claims he was repeatedly assured the gatherings were within the rules is on course to be published on Thursday morning.
Johnson cannot be suspended from parliament – a punishment he was likely to face – because he announced he was stepping down last Friday and formally left the Commons on Monday.
However, the privileges committee is keen to ensure he does not get away scot-free. It is likely to recommend that he be blocked from being given the pass offered to most former MPs granting him privileged access to the Westminster estate.
Such a decision would be up to the Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, but there is precedent. An independent expert panel made the same recommendation about John Bercow in its report about his bullying that was published after he quit as an MP.
The Commons declined to comment, but in a statement on Tuesday said Johnson had submitted a letter making fresh representations at 11.57pm the previous night which it was working through promptly.
Once a select committee report is signed off, a large logistical operation gets under way to print copies and plan for its release.
Government insiders and committee sources said they wanted to ensure the report was published by about 10:30am on Thursday, when the Commons leader, Penny Mordaunt, will make a statement about business for the week.
It is up to her to announce the timing of a vote on the report, given MPs have to accept a report in order for it to formally come into effect.
The vote is likely to be held next Monday as Downing Street hopes to get the issue over with as quickly as possible, given the row over Partygate has dragged on for 18 months.
All MPs voted to set up the inquiry by the privileges committee last April, after an investigation by Scotland Yard issued more than 120 fines and a separate investigation into the culture of rule-breaking by the then senior civil servant Sue Gray.
Johnson’s spokesperson was contacted for comment. On Tuesday evening, the former prime minister said: “The privileges committee should publish their report and let the world judge their nonsense. They have no excuse for delay.
“Their absurdly unfair rules do not even allow any criticism of their findings. I have made my views clear to the committee in writing – and will do so more widely when they finally publish.”
