Boris Johnson has won unlikely support from the high-profile, Brexit-frustrating QC Lord Pannick. It’s understood that Lord Pannick will this morning deliver a “devastating blow” to the privileges committee investigation into whether Boris misled the house – an investigation already so blatantly stitched up it carries no moral weight. Lord Pannick – who can hardly be accused of being a supporter of Boris or Brexit – is expected to argue that the committee’s desire to see the PM chucked out of the Commons could seriously muzzle ministers in future. This is the same Lord Pannick who represented Gina Miller in 2019 at the Supreme Court over the government’s prorogation attempt…

The inquiry has already been roundly slammed, not only for having changed the terms of reference from looking into whether Boris ‘deliberately misled the house’ to merely ‘misled’; there are also questions of why Speaker Lindsay Hoyle waved a magic wand to give the committee the power to trigger the recall act. The chair, Harriet Harman, has also prejudged the inquiry by tweeting that Boris did mislead the House…

Guido understands Lord Pannick’s full argument will be published in the next few hours, by lunchtime at the very latest. A Downing Street source tells The Mail “This isn’t for Boris, but for all future PMs and MPs,” “Ministers will never be able to say anything if they think they can be found in contempt by accidentally giving the wrong answer.” Pannick will also question why witnesses are being allowed to give evidence anonymously, contrary to standard court practice, with an insider source saying the advice is “absolutely devastating”…