The Intelligence and Security Committee is not a usual Select Committee governed by parliamentary rules. It has a wide-ranging role in overseeing MI5, MI6, GCHQ, Defence Intelligence, Joint Intelligence, the National Security Secretariat and the Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism. It is supposed to be less partisan and more independently minded even than Select Committees. Yet the accusation is that not only have the Government packed it with willing supporters with no expertise in this area but that the Prime Minister has also made it clear that he wishes Chris Grayling to chair it. As Dominic Grieve, former chair of the committee and former Attorney-General, put it:
“The whole point about this committee is it is non-partisan.”
He made it clear that the Prime Minister should not
“be seeking to tell the committee who should be the chair.”
If Mr Grayling turns out to be the chair, the Government’s protestations that they played no part will ring hollow.
The SNP’s Ian Blackford stated:
“The likely nomination of Chris Grayling as chair—who has a distinct record in government as a jack of all trades and master of none—will deliver a blow to the effectiveness of the committee’s work.”
This committee usually has two members from the House of Lords. Why have the Government not nominated someone from their Benches? The Guardian reports:
“Normally the Tories would have nominated a peer as a member, but the concern was that any nominee might be less likely to support”
Chris Grayling. Even the Telegraph reports:
“Two senior Conservative MPs told The Telegraph that the fact a new committee has not been formed since December’s general election was a result of ‘the complete control freakery of the Cummings group within No 10 … They want total control of key appointments so they can appoint their own people.’”