[1][2] By convention, government ministers who are found to have misled parliament will generally lose their ministerial portfolio.
[4] In 1994 the UK parliament's Treasury & Civil Service Committee noted that "the knowledge that ministers and civil servants may evade questions and put the best gloss on the facts but will not lie or knowingly mislead the House of Commons is one of the most powerful tools MPs have in holding the executive to account".
[5] The committee argued that any minister who was discovered to have knowingly lied to parliament should resign.
[7] As a result, Channel 4 found that "It's easier to get thrown out of the House of Commons for calling someone a liar than for lying itself.
"[8] In 2021, a petition to make knowingly lying to parliament a criminal offence obtained more than 100,000 signatures.