Two Boris Johnson allies have launched an attack on an investigation which could see him booted out of the House of Commons.

While the prime minister is due to make way for either Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss in a few weeks, he is still facing a probe over whether he misled parliament. 

The inquiry goes back to assurances he gave to parliament that all the rules were being followed in Downing Street during lockdown. 

If he is found in breach of the rules and suspended, voters in his London constituency would be able to trigger a by-election and vote him out of parliament altogether.

Mr Johnson, who was fined by the Met Police for his own conduct at the height of the pandemic, has always denied deliberately misleading MPs but admits he ‘inadvertently’ gave an account which turned out to be untrue.

Under his leadership Downing Street became the rule-breaking capital of the country, with dozens of fixed penalty notices issued to senior and junior members of staff.

With the Commons Privileges Committee set to press ahead with its work when parliament returns in September, the PM’s outriders have sought to discredit it before it’s even started.

Nadine Dorries, who was given the culture secretary job by Mr Johnson, wrote on Twitter: ‘If this witch hunt continues, it will be the most egregious abuse of power witnessed in Westminster.

‘It will cast serious doubt not only on the reputation of individual MPs sitting on the committee, but on the processes of Parliament and democracy itself.’

Unelected peer Zac Goldsmith, who was handed a lifetime seat in the House of Lords and a ministerial post by Mr Johnson, also claimed the ‘probe is clearly rigged’.

He said: ‘It is a jury comprised of highly partisan, vengeful & vindictive MPs, nearly all of whom are already on the record viciously attacking the person they are judging. It is an obscene abuse of power.’

A majority of the MPs on the seven-member panel are Tory MPs. Labour MP Chris Bryant, a vocal critic of Mr Johnson, has stepped aside to deflect claims of political bias.

Both ministers made the comments while sharing a Mail on Sunday article featuring quotes from an unnamed supporter of the PM calling the investigation a ‘stitch-up’.

It railed against the scope of the investigation, claiming it had been changed to cover any unintentional misleading of parliament following the PM’s admission he inadvertently did so.

A spokesperson for the Privileges Committee denied this, saying: ‘There has been no change to the rules or to terms of reference.

‘The initial report published by the committee is about process. The background paper on contempt was prepared by a senior clerk of the House of Commons. All clerks are strictly politically impartial.’

They added that the inquiry will set out to answer whether the House was misled, whether that amounts to a contempt, if so, how serious that contempt was.

If he is found to have lied to parliament, Mr Johnson could face a suspension from the Commons for 10 or more sitting days and a recall petition, which, if signed by 10% of his constituents, would trigger a by-election.

The MPs on the committee intend to call Mr Johnson to give oral evidence in public in the autumn, under oath.

The PM has also been ordered to hand over a cache of documents to them.

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