Rishi Sunak has missed his chance to exorcise the spectre of Boris Johnson

Editorial: The prime minister should understand better than he does that it is not in the interests of Johnson for the Conservatives to win the next election

In such circumstances, support for the sanctions on Johnson should have been unanimous (PA Archive)

In a less febrile, more rational, even Socratic version of our current parliament, the chamber of the House of Commons would have been full to overflowing for such a historic occasion. For the first (and, it must be hoped, only) time in British history, a former prime minister has been investigated by the committee of privileges for contempt of parliament.

And not just any old contempt of parliament, as unprecedented and shaming as that would have been. Boris Johnson’s contempts – for they were numerous – were committed in lying to parliament on a number of occasions, and then in compounding the original contempts with fresh ones when he sought to foment anger at the committee in such a way as to impede its work.

“Kangaroo court”. “Deranged”. “Beneath contempt”. “Nonsense”. These were the expressions Mr Johnson threw at the committee, deriding it’s probity and throwing in a Trumpian conspiracy theory about Brexit just to inflame and confuse matters still more.

It bears repeating: this is disgraceful, contemptible behaviour from any parliamentarian, let alone a former prime minister. Just as he has done in every other post he has held, Mr Johnson has revealed himself beyond doubt to be unfit for office. It is a realisation that seems to be dawning on many in his own party, which goes some way to account for the scant support he received during the debate on the committee’s report, and the ludicrous seven votes he received in the division.

Of course, there is a wider penumbra of loyal supporters who chose to abstain, but they did so because they and Mr Johnson were aware that their rebellion would be small and pitiful. They also, presumably, realised that to vote against the findings would merely draw attention to how weak and exposed Mr Johnson’s position now is, bluster and bombast aside.

Yet at such a crucial moment in the process of cleansing public life of the malign remnants of Mr Johnson’s influence, the prime minister and many of his colleagues chose not to appear. Some eight cabinet ministers did make the effort – including the chief whip, Simon Hart – and rightly supported the excellent work of the committee.

The leader of the house, Penny Mordaunt, made a dignified and balanced statement, urging members to examine the report and their consciences in equal measure, and to leave each other alone as they did so. She is obviously positioning herself as the “sensible” candidate in a future leadership contest (though it may not do her much good).

In such circumstances, though, support for the sanctions bestowed on Mr Johnson should have been unanimous on the part of the government. It should have been so not because of any informal whipping, or because of a desire to please the prime minister, but because Mr Sunak had done the right thing and inspired his MPs to do the same.

Instead, the large number of abstentions allowed Mr Johnson’s more zealous fans to argue – wrongly – that the denunciation by the members of the Commons of their recently resigned colleague was only half-hearted. For that matter, the leader of the opposition ought to have been there, too: the leadership of the main, and indeed all, parties united in condemnation of Mr Johnson.

As well as being the right thing to do, the issuing of a clear, short, simple statement by the prime minister, endorsing the report, would also have served a more basic purpose. For Mr Sunak would have finally, almost ceremonially, ended the Johnson era. In that scenario, today would be the first day on which Mr Sunak could feel that he was unequivocally master of his own government and his own party, and could continue his work of dragging the party back to a position of realism and responsibility.

As it is, Mr Johnson will be a constant distraction. The prime minister should understand, maybe better than he does, that it is not in the interests of Mr Johnson for Mr Sunak and the Conservatives to win the next election.