Isle of Wight MP, Bob Seely, is facing criticism following his recent appearance on Newsnight where he denied referring to the investigation by the Privileges Committee into former Prime Minister Boris Johnson as a “kangaroo court”.
A recording of a previous Newsnight interview (9th June) clearly showed that Mr Seely had indeed used the term to describe the Privileges Committee, a parliamentary standards body that had been investigating Johnson, just over a week prior to his denial.
Controversy and denial
During last night’s interview, Newsnight presenter Victoria Derbyshire challenged Seely on his previous statements, stating, “A week last Friday on Newsnight you described the Privileges Committee as a kangaroo court”, to which Seely responded, “I don’t think I did”.
Ms Derbyshire then retorted with, “You absolutely did”.
The Committee had previously called the labeling of it as a ‘kangaroo court’ part of a campaign of abuse and intimidation.
Called out
Many people have commented and shared videos on social media, including this one by Nina Sawetz, winner of PR Agency of the Year 2022, which was posted at 11pm on Monday night. It’s already achieved more than 1.1m views in less than 24 hours.
James O’Brien from LBC also added his view on the Isle of Wight MP,
“That is so illustrative of what Johnson does to people. He is defending the indefensible. If you defend the indefensible you end up bent double. But rarely does anyone bend themselves quite as double as Bob Seely did last night.”
SNP politician, John Nicolson, Tweeted about this (His Tweet has been viewed nearly half a million times), concluding, “This is why we need public service broadcasting in the era of post truth politics.”
Seely’s support for the Privileges Committee findings
Despite his previous characterisation of the committee as a kangaroo court, MPs, including Seely, voted in favour of the Privileges Committee’s report, which issued a damning verdict on Johnson’s honesty and conduct.
The report concluded that the former Prime Minister had deliberately and repeatedly misled Parliament.
In Seely’s 9th Jun interview on Newsnight he said that he wishes “Boris Johnson was still Prime Minister now”.
Breaching Parliamentary standards
UK Parliamentary procedures are governed by a variety of rules and regulations, primarily set out in Erskine May’s “Treatise on the Law, Privileges, Proceedings and Usage of Parliament”, often simply referred to as “Erskine May”.
One of the fundamental principles of parliamentary procedure in the UK is that MPs should show respect for each other and for Parliament’s various committees.
Sanctions?
Insulting a parliamentary committee could be considered a breach of these standards.
If an MP is found to have breached the rules of conduct, there are several potential sanctions that can be imposed.
Seely’s response awaited
News OnTheWight has contacted the Isle of Wight MP over the matter. We asked:
Would you kindly clarify for the constituents of the Island – should they trust your words on national television last week, where you portrayed the Privileges Committee as a ‘kangaroo court’, or should they take into account your most recent vote in Parliament? Your parliamentary action seems to contradict the notion of the committee being a ‘kangaroo court’.
Also, should residents be concerned that you forgot that you’d made such a serious allegation?
At time of publishing he had not yet responded to the controversy surrounding his Newsnight interview.
The unfolding saga continues to draw the attention of the public and media, with many keenly awaiting Seely’s response to the criticism.
Image: © BBC
