Vote Leave boss ordered to appear before MPs

Motion last used in 1920 means Dominic
Cummings risks being held in ‘contempt of parliament’ if he fails
to show

One-Minute Read

Cummings, dubbed the brains behind Brexit who is set to be
portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in a forthcoming Channel 4 drama,
has repeatedly refused to appear before the media select committee
to answer questions around the use of Facebook data during the Brexit referendum.

Now MPs haven taken the rare step of accusing him of “holding
Parliament in contempt” by snubbing the request and voted to order
him to appear before the committee on or before 20 June.

It is thought to be the first motion of its kind to pass through
Parliament since 1920, and has been described by The Independent as “a rare show of
parliamentary strength”.

It is unclear what happens if he refuses to show
up. Theoretically he could be arrested and fined if he flouts
the motion, “but the sanction is rarely used and is a symbolic slap
on the wrist”, says the Daily Mail.

“In their darker imaginings, the Commons authorities fear a
situation where the Serjeant at Arms is dispatched to fetch a
reluctant witness,” says BBC parliamentary correspondent Mark D’Arcy
“only to become embroiled in an embarrassing, and probably
televised stand-off”.

However, “it is far from clear that the Serjeant has powers to
enter private property, still less to put Mr Cummings in an arm
lock and frogmarch him to Westminster”, he says.

More importantly, the Independent says this row could also set
an “interesting precedent” as the committee has unsuccessfully
tried to compel Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg to give evidence.