East Sussex politician criticised for abstaining on ‘Partygate’ report which condemned Boris Johnson

Maria Caulfield, Conservative MP for Lewes, was not present as elected officials voted on the Privileges Committee’s report recommendations that the former Prime Minister be suspended for "deliberately misleading" parliament, after he told them he knew nothing about the lockdown-breaking social gatherings in and around Downing Street.

The East Sussex politician told SussexWorld she was absent from the Chamber because she was at a family funeral.

The Liberal Democrats said voting against the motion would be "an insult to bereaved families who grieved alone while Boris Johnson partied."

James MacCleary, Liberal Democrat candidate for Lewes, said: "This report presented Maria Caulfield with an opportunity to show local families who made sacrifices and lost loved ones during the pandemic that she understands the anger that we all feel that her former leader lied to Parliament and treated the public with such contempt.

"It is time for Ms Caulfield to admit she got it wrong in supporting Boris Johnson and confirm she will vote to censure Boris Johnson. Anything less would be an insult to bereaved families in our communities who grieved alone while Boris Johnson lied and partied. The entire affair has also seriously damaged the authority of parliament and the public's trust in our democratic processes."

If Johnson had not resigned as an MP on Friday, June 9, the committee would have recommended a 90-day suspension from parliament.

Instead, they have recommended that he should not be given a pass allowing him access to parliament, a traditional privilege given to ex-MPs.

During Johnson's reign as leader of the country, Maria Caulfield was a vocal supporter of the then Prime Minister, taking to BBC’s Question Time in April 2022 to defend his actions during the pandemic.

Ms Caulfield said: "I think misleading parliament, to be found guilty of that, it has to be a deliberate misleading, not inadvertently misleading.

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"Boris Johnson has been very clear that there were wrong doings around the party gate situation. He has apologised and made changes already. As someone who did work on the covid wards during the pandemic, no one is more angry about the events that took place at Number 10 then me. I fully understand the frustration and anger at what has happened."

The Lewes District Green Party have also criticised Ms Caulfield’s failure to vote in parliament on the report, despite it getting an overwhelming majority vote of support, being passed by 354 votes to 7.

Emily O’Brien, Lewes Green Party Councillor and prospective Parliamentary candidate, said: “I was shocked to see our local MP Maria Caulfield, already notorious for defending Boris Johnson over Partygate, including a car crash TV appearance on Question Time last year when the audience booed her attempts to justify the unjustifiable, has now chosen to abstain on this crucial vote.

"She chose to opt out rather than show she cares about truth in politics by accepting the damning report into Johnson’s conduct.

“I am equally shocked that the Conservative 'leader' and the country’s Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, chose to hide away rather than accept his own parliamentary committee’s findings. What an absolute failure of leadership from both of them. It’s hard to find any Conservative supporters locally and this just has to be another nail in the coffin.”