Rishi Sunak has accused Boris Johnson of asking him to ‘do something I wasn’t prepared to do’.

The PM and the former PM have been at loggerheads over Conservative MPs failing to appear on Boris’s resignation honours list on Friday despite them being nominated for the House of Lords.

Appearing at the London Tech Week conference for his first public remarks since Boris quit as an MP, Mr Sunak said: ‘Boris Johnson asked me to do something that I wasn’t prepared to do because I didn’t think it was right.’

‘That was to either overrule the Holac (House of Lords Appointments Commission) committee or to make promises to people.

‘Now, I wasn’t prepared to do that. I didn’t think it was right and if people don’t like that, then tough.

‘When I got this job I said I was going to do things differently because I wanted to change politics and that’s what I’m doing.

‘And I’m also keen to make sure that we change how our country works and that’s what I’m here talking about today: making sure that we can grow our economy, that we can maintain our leadership in the innovative industries of the future.’

Former culture secretary Nadine Dorries, ex-minister Nigel Adams and Cop26 president Sir Alok Sharma were reportedly put forward by Mr Johnson for peerages.

Ms Dorries and Mr Adams have resigned as MPs since being omitted, giving Mr Sunak the headache of three separate by-elections, with Mr Johnson also quitting over complaints about a Commons partygate inquiry.

Government figures have insisted that neither Mr Sunak nor Downing Street removed names from Mr Johnson’s peerages submission, with Michael Gove stressing on Monday that the ‘appropriate procedure’ and the correct ‘precedent’ was followed.

The row over the Lords appointments comes as the Privileges Committee is set to meet to conclude its inquiry into whether the former prime minister misled Parliament over No 10 lockdown parties.

MPs have pledged to continue the investigation process despite Mr Johnson’s Commons exit amid accusations of a ‘witch hunt’.

The panel is set to meet in Westminster on Monday with a view to deciding when to publish its report.

There has been speculation that the seven-person committee, which is chaired by veteran Labour MP Harriet Harman but has a Conservative majority, could release its findings in a matter of days.

Mr Gove said on Monday that any vote on the findings is a ‘matter for the House of Commons’, as he appeared to distance the Government from any role in the response to the inquiry.

Reports suggest the panel was set to recommend at least a 10-day suspension, reaching the threshold for a by-election to be potentially triggered in his Uxbridge and South Ruislip constituency.

Mr Johnson accused the committee of ‘bias’ and likened it to a ‘kangaroo court’.

The Privileges Committee, in response, said Mr Johnson ‘impugned the integrity of the House’ with his attack.

Boris Johnson’s resignation statement in full

I have received a letter from the Privileges Committee making it clear – much to my amazement – that they are determined to use the proceedings against me to drive me out of parliament. 

They have still not produced a shred of evidence that I knowingly or recklessly misled the Commons. 

They know perfectly well that when I spoke in the Commons I was saying what I believed sincerely to be true and what I had been briefed to say, like any other minister. They know that I corrected the record as soon as possible; and they know that I and every other senior official and minister – including the current Prime Minister and then occupant of the same building, Rishi Sunak – believed that we were working lawfully together. 

I have been an MP since 2001. I take my responsibilities seriously. I did not lie, and I believe that in their hearts the Committee know it. But they have wilfully chosen to ignore the truth because from the outset their purpose has not been to discover the truth, or genuinely to understand what was in my mind when I spoke in the Commons. 

Their purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts. This is the very definition of a kangaroo court. 

Most members of the Committee – especially the chair – had already expressed deeply prejudicial remarks about my guilt before they had even seen the evidence. They should have recused themselves. 

In retrospect it was naive and trusting of me to think that these proceedings could be remotely useful or fair. But I was determined to believe in the system, and in justice, and to vindicate what I knew to be the truth. 

It was the same faith in the impartiality of our systems that led me to commission Sue Gray. It is clear that my faith has been misplaced. Of course, it suits the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, and the SNP to do whatever they can to remove me from parliament.  

Sadly, as we saw in July last year, there are currently some Tory MPs who share that view. I am not alone in thinking that there is a witch hunt underway, to take revenge for Brexit and ultimately to reverse the 2016 referendum result. 

My removal is the necessary first step, and I believe there has been a concerted attempt to bring it about. I am afraid I no longer believe that it is any coincidence that Sue Gray – who investigated gatherings in Number 10 – is now the chief of staff designate of the Labour leader. 

Nor do I believe that it is any coincidence that her supposedly impartial chief counsel, Daniel Stilitz KC, turned out to be a strong Labour supporter who repeatedly tweeted personal attacks on me and the government.  

When I left office last year the government was only a handful of points behind in the polls. That gap has now massively widened. 

Just a few years after winning the biggest majority in almost half a century, that majority is now clearly at risk. 

Our party needs urgently to recapture its sense of momentum and its belief in what this country can do. 

We need to show how we are making the most of Brexit and we need in the next months to be setting out a pro-growth and pro-investment agenda. We need to cut business and personal taxes – and not just as pre-election gimmicks – rather than endlessly putting them up. 

We must not be afraid to be a properly Conservative government. 

Why have we so passively abandoned the prospect of a Free Trade Deal with the US? Why have we junked measures to help people into housing or to scrap EU directives or to promote animal welfare? 

We need to deliver on the 2019 manifesto, which was endorsed by 14 million people. We should remember that more than 17 million voted for Brexit. 

I am now being forced out of parliament by a tiny handful of people, with no evidence to back up their assertions, and without the approval even of Conservative party members let alone the wider electorate. 

I believe that a dangerous and unsettling precedent is being set. 

The Conservative Party has the time to recover its mojo and its ambition and to win the next election. I had looked forward to providing enthusiastic support as a backbench MP. Harriet Harman’s committee has set out to make that objective completely untenable. 

The Committee’s report is riddled with inaccuracies and reeks of prejudice but under their absurd and unjust process I have no formal ability to challenge anything they say. 

The Privileges Committee is there to protect the privileges of parliament. That is a very important job. They should not be using their powers – which have only been very recently designed – to mount what is plainly a political hitjob on someone they oppose. 

It is in no one’s interest, however, that the process the Committee has launched should continue for a single day further. 

So I have today written to my Association in Uxbridge and South Ruislip to say that I am stepping down forthwith and triggering an immediate by-election. 

I am very sorry to leave my wonderful constituency. It has been a huge honour to serve them, both as Mayor and MP. 

But I am proud that after what is cumulatively a 15 year stint I have helped to deliver among other things a vast new railway in the Elizabeth Line and full funding for a wonderful new state of the art hospital for Hillingdon, where enabling works have already begun. 

I also remain hugely proud of all that we achieved in my time in office as Prime Minister: getting Brexit done, winning the biggest majority for 40 years and delivering the fastest vaccine roll out of any major European country, as well as leading global support for Ukraine. 

While the former Tory Party leader will no longer be affected by a decision to suspend him, given that he has resigned from the green benches, the committee could choose to apply other sanctions.

Mr Gove defended the integrity of the committee but refused to rebuke party colleagues during an appearance on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

‘It is not my job or role to censor or police anyone’s views in a matter of public debate,’ he said.

‘I have respect for the work that they have done and I think that we need to respect again the integrity of the process and wait until the report is published before then debating its conclusions and the consequences.

‘The second thing that I want to say is that I do deprecate the fact that they are now in a position where, as reported, they have to seek or have been granted additional security.’

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