Newbury MP Laura Farris on committee investigating if Boris misled Parliament

Conservative Newbury MP Laura Farris is one of seven MPs set to investigate whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson misled Parliament.

She sits on the Privileges Committee, which will launch an inquiry into whether the PM misled Parliament about lockdown-busting parties in Downing Street.

Laura Farris and Sir Bernard Jenkin, who is also on the committee, voted in November to overrule the Standards Committee in a botched attempt to save former minister Owen Paterson from suspension – despite his rule-breaking lobbying work.

The vote also aimed to rewrite Parliament’s rulebook in a move that was widely condemned by opposition MPs and even some rebel Conservative MPs.

The Privilege Committee looks into allegations that an MP has committed contempt of Parliament.

Misleading the Commons, as opposition parties claim the Prime Minister has done, falls into this category.

Mrs Farris told the Newbury Weekly News this week: “If the matter comes before me on the committee, I will answer the question without fear or favour on the basis of a rigorous investigation of the material that is before us.”

While the committee has conducted numerous investigations before, the sitting Prime Minister has never previously been referred to it for scrutiny.

A cross-party group of seven MPs make up the committee.

They are the exact same members as sit on the standards committee.

But unlike the standards committee, the privileges committee does not have any extra lay members – independent people who are not politicians – appointed to sit on it.