Julian Lewis hits back at Boris Johnson after he is stripped of Conservative whip

Julian Lewis has hit out at Boris Johnson’s “improper” attempt to impose his preferred candidate as chairman of Parliament’s intelligence committee after he was ousted from the Conservatives for alleged “duplicity.”

The veteran MP was on Wednesday ousted from the Conservative benches after securing the chairmanship of the Intelligence and Security Committee with the support of Labour and SNP members.

His surprise candidacy blindsided Downing Street and his colleague and former Cabinet minister Chris Grayling, who had been lined up for the role.

The move provoked fury within Government, with senior Tory sources accusing Mr Lewis of deceiving the Chief Whip and working with the opposition to his own advantage.

There are now fears that Number 10 could attempt to remove Lewis from the committee though a resolution in the House of Commons. However, such a move would likely provoke a significant Tory rebellion.

Hitting back on Thursday, Mr Lewis said that the Prime Minister had no right to select the chairman of the committee and that gave no assurances that he would vote for Mr Grayling.

In a statement, he added that a request for him to vote Mr Grayling was “improper” given the vote was independent of the Government and that Number 10 had publicly denied wanting to “parachute a preferred candidate into the chair”.

“It is therefore strange to have the whip removed for failing to vote for the Government's preferred candidate,” he continued.

It comes as Mr Johnson faces a mounting backlash from Conservative MPs over his treatment of Mr Lewis, who has served as an MP for 23 years.

One former Cabinet minister told The Telegraph that Mr Lewis had significant expertise on defence and security matters and was a far more suitable candidate than Mr Grayling, who during his chequered ministerial career earned the nickname “Failing Grayling.”

“So Failing Grayling failed, kind of goes with the reputation,” they added.

The committee’s first major act will be to publish the long-awaited Russia report, which has been repeatedly held up due to last year’s election and delays in selecting the committee membership.

On Thursday the committee confirmed that it would be releasing it next week, before MPs rise for the summer recess.

Critics of the Government believe the report was deliberately delayed because it is likely to suggest Russian interference with the Brexit referendum.

However, ministers have publicly played down its significance, whilst a former member of the committee told The Telegraph that no one had ever suggested it was “dynamite”.

“I would be rather bemused if this [the removal of the whip from Mr Lewis] is all about the Russia report,” the source added.

Separately, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, an ex-ISC chairman and Conservative foreign secretary, said the Prime Minister had acted in an "extremely incompetent" manner and that those responsible for advising him should be sacked.

He said it is essential that the committee was independent of government if it is to be able to do its job effectively.

"The Prime Minister is the author of his own misfortune. The Prime Minister has no role in the choice of the chairman of the committee. I think the Prime Minister or his advisers have handled this in an extremely incompetent way," Sir Malcolm told BBC Radio 4's Today programme

"If they had succeeded, that destroys the whole purpose of the Intelligence and Security Committee. It is a unique committee. They are the only people who have access to the highest levels of intelligence.

"They need the confidence of the intelligence agencies and of Parliament. If they are thought to be creatures of government they have no authority to do the job that the law requires them to do.

"The Prime Minister either should have known that or should have been advised of that, and whoever is advising him deserves to be stripped of their responsibility at this very moment."