Boris Johnson is expected to face only a few minutes of questioning about the conduct of Dominic Cummings at his first appearance before the Commons liaison committee since becoming prime minister. A briefing note from the controversially appointed Conservative chair, Sir Bernard Jenkin, prepared for the senior MPs shows that at 4pm on Wednesday, 20 minutes have been allocated to discuss Cummings plus three other coronavirus topics. There is also unhappiness that there is no opportunity for questions about China or any other aspect of national security or foreign affairs – and some members have complained Jenkin is “going soft” on the prime minister. The note, sent out on Monday lunchtime as the Cummings affair was dominating the news, says the first phase of the meeting will discuss “Dominic Cummings, roles and responsibilities, Covid-19 ‘war cabinet’, coordination with Scot/Wales/NI”. It is the only immediate parliamentary opportunity to grill Johnson over Cummings as the meeting is taking place during recess. No prime minister’s questions are being held earlier in the day. Jenkin will start the questioning – he has remained silent on the Cummings affair on his Twitter feed over the weekend – followed by Yvette Cooper, the Labour chair of the home affairs committee, the most senior opposition member.
The only others listed as being able to participate in this section are Stephen Crabb, the former Conservative minister who chairs the Welsh affairs committee; Pete Wishart, the SNP chair of the Scottish affairs committee; and Simon Hoare, the Conservative who chairs the Northern Ireland committee. Of the Conservatives, Crabb was also silent over the Cummings affair over the weekend, although Hoare did call for Cummings to “consider his position” because of the damage he was doing to the government’s reputation. Hoare, however, is listed for two questions only. The agenda, lasting 90 minutes as a whole, says that Johnson will then be questioned on coronavirus science, testing, tracking and testing, plans to reopen schools and restarting the economy – all substantial topics in their own right. The liaison body is the only Commons committee that has the power to question the prime minister and used to meet twice a year before Johnson became prime minister last July. Johnson had repeatedly cancelled his appearances before the liaison committee – normally made up of all the other select committee chairs – and only agreed to attend after Jenkin was appointed this month.
The pro-Brexit Conservative grandee was appointed at the behest of the government, even though he is not a chairman of any select committee. “I already feel he is going soft on the prime minister,” a Conservative member said. In his briefing note, Jenkin said he wanted to adopt “a topic-based approach” rather than allocate a specific amount of time to each questioner in each segment of the meeting, which typically last 20 minutes. “If it can be made to work, this will demonstrate that the committee is focused on the issues of most public concern,” he said. The Conservative added that he wanted “to prioritise chairs with a domestic remit”.