The ministerial code says: “Ministers who knowingly mislead parliament will be expected to offer their resignation to the prime minister.” If they are the prime minister, the implication must be that they should offer their resignation to the Queen – who, because she doesn’t interfere in politics, would have to accept it.
But who gets to decide whether Boris Johnson has fallen foul of this long-standing constitutional convention? In the end, it is a decision of raw politics, made by the House of Commons as a whole. Given that the prime minister’s government has a working majority of 75, the verdict is not really in doubt as long as Johnson retains the confidence of his own party.
That does not mean he will be in the clear regardless of the police investigation and the report by Sue Gray, the senior civil servant, which is expected to be published on Wednesday.
