Contributions
1,092 recent contributions in Hansard
HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsI do apologise if I have not made that clear; I thought that I had. I can confirm that that is the position. Let me conclude by reassuring hon. Members that it is the Government’s…21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsI think the hon. Lady misunderstands the position, which I have made perfectly clear and will repeat. This is about getting the process henceforth right—a process that will have…21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsWhat I can say to my right hon. and learned Friend is that the matter is being given very careful and full consideration. I hope that answers the point.21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsThe answer is a very simple one: the process will be done properly. It will be done in a way that will give confidence to the system; it will be done in a way that the House,…21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsI will give way to the hon. Gentleman, but he knows exactly what is meant by this.21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsI am not going to dignify that with a response.21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsThere are exceptions in every case and, of course, we know that in the past 30 years Prime Ministers of all political parties have decided for themselves when Ministers have their…21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsI thank the right hon. Member for Ashton-under-Lyne (Angela Rayner) for choosing today’s motion. It is a great pleasure, as always, to appear on the other side of the House from…21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsIn a moment; I will just make some progress. Let me move on to the detail of the motion, which is constitutionally rather important. It is predicated on a misplaced worry about…21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsThose are two different things, as the right hon. Member knows. We are talking about strengthening the role of the independent adviser, on which we had time to reflect and which…21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsMy right hon. and learned Friend is absolutely right about the code. I think it is annex A, and it may even be 1(c), although I may be wrong. The foreword is a topical document…21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsNo. The creation of an adviser with the power to initiate consideration of a potential breach of the ministerial code is different, and we can safely predict it would open the…21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsClearly, it is for that Select Committee to decide how it conducts its own affairs, but certainly as far as this motion is concerned, it would be unconstitutional. Rather than…21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsThe intent of the motion, as the hon. Gentleman well knows, is to stymie the Prime Minister’s power to have his own Ministers. [ Interruption. ] He knows full well that that is…21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsI respectfully advise the hon. Gentleman to read the document he is quoting. First, those lines were only included in the foreword of the document since August 2019. They are…21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsI will leave that to the right hon. Gentleman’s already active imagination, but I would say that not everything is a conspiracy. He should bear in mind the responsibility that he…21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsI am in the business of protecting our judiciary from becoming politicised, which would be a danger with the hon. Gentleman’s suggestion. Select Committees already have a vital…21 Jun 2022HANSARD Adviser on Ministerial InterestsI can certainly say to my hon. Friend that those sorts of questions are being worked through now in detail. As I said, the challenge to constitutional norms is not confined to the…21 Jun 2022HANSARDIndependent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests ResignationOf course, the Prime Minister maintains the highest standards in public life and will continue to do so. Despite all the scurrilous suggestions otherwise, the hon. Lady has given…16 Jun 2022HANSARDIndependent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests ResignationI think the House will forgive me if I do not take lectures on moral probity from the Scottish nationalists. One needs only to google the SNP to have whole list of those incidents.16 Jun 2022