Boris Johnson will face a parliamentary misconduct investigation, after MPs backed a crunch House of Commons motion over his breaches of coronavirus laws.
The Labour motion, which was unopposed by the Government, means the Partygate scandal will be referred to the privileges committee - which can determine whether the Prime Minister's repeated denials of there being any parties in Number 10 during the height lockdown amounted to a "contempt of the House".
By convention, if a Government minister is found to have misled Parliament they are expected to resign or are usually sacked. Read more: Bin strikes set to go ahead in Manchester as workers vote for industrial action Tory MPs had initially been ordered to back a Government amendment which would have deferred any decision on referring the matter to the committee until after the conclusion of the Met Police inquiry.
But in a late U-turn shortly before the debate began, Commons Leader Mark Spencer said there would be a free vote for Tory MPs.
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