Good morning. Rishi Sunak is back from Japan, and this morning he is due to meet Sir Laurie Magnus, his ethics adviser, to discuss whether Magnus should launch an inquiry into claims that Suella Braverman, the home secretary, broke the ministerial code when she asked officials about arranging a private speed awareness course after she was caught speeding. These courses are meant to be group events, but Braverman did not want a bunch of strangers to know she was taking part.
Given the controversy this story has aroused, it will be surprising if Sunak does not order an inquiry. Here is Pippa Crerar’s overnight story.
On the BBC’s Westminster Hour last night Philip Rycroft, a former permanent secretary at the Brexit department, said he thought Braverman had broken the ministerial code. He told the programme:
This, on the face of it, I think, is a breach of the ministerial code. Obviously, there’s still investigations to be done and so on but the code is very clear. Ministers must ensure that no conflict arises or appears to arise between their public duties and their private interests.
Even asking a question of a civil servant as to how she might go on one of these courses puts them in an impossible position. And for somebody, you know, who wakes up in the morning and sees a future prime minister, this is a real lapse of judgment.
And this morning Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA, the union that represents senior civil servants, said he thought Braverman has abused her position. He told Sky News:
Civil servants are publicly funded. They’re paid for by you and me. They’re not there to support the personal interests of a minister. They don’t do their shopping, they don’t look after their children and they don’t sort out their speeding fine.
In truth, as breaches of the ministerial code go, this seems to be at the mild end of what might count, and if this story were about a more anonymous member of the cabinet (Mel Stride, Gillian Keegan?), it would be attracting far less attention.
But Braverman is not an anonymous minister, which is why this issue is a problem for Sunak. She has already had to resign once for breaching the ministerial code, for sending an official document from her personal email to a fellow MP. She has set herself up as the de facto leader of a Tory faction pushing for a much harder stance on legal and illegal immigration, to the extent that she sometimes gives the impression that she wants to be sacked. But this has also given her a following, and her allies are briefing the media that she is the victim of a smear campaign.
This morning Keir Starmer said that if Braverman has broken the ministerial code, she should resign. Peter Walker has the story here.
“The ministerial code is pretty clear that if you break it, you’re supposed to go,” Starmer said.
In fact, Starmer is wrong about that. The code used to operate on that basis, but guidance from No 10 issued last year says that if a minister has broken the code, in some circumstances a public apology would be the appropriate sanction. It says:
As both Lord Geidt and the Committee on Standards in Public Life have recommended last year, it is disproportionate to expect that any breach, however minor, should lead automatically to resignation or dismissal. The sanction which the prime minister may decide to issue in a given case is for the prime minister to determine, but could include requiring some form of public apology, remedial action or removal of ministerial salary for a period. The ministerial code has been updated to reflect this.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10.25am: Keir Starmer gives a speech on Labour’s health mission.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
2.30pm: Suella Braverman, the home secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
After 3.30pm: Rishi Sunak is expected to make a Commons statement on the G7 summit.
After 4.30pm: MPs debate Labour amendments to the strikes (minimum service levels) bill.
5pm: James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, gives a speech in Chile.
If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a PC or a laptop. (It is not available on the app yet.) This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line, privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate), or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.
The official statistics watchdog has reprimanded the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, after he claimed public debt levels would fall in the coming years, when in fact they are simply forecast to rise less steeply than previously expected. Peter Walker has the story.
Keir Starmer will give a speech this morning giving details of Labour’s “mission” on health. Health is one of the five “missions” – overall strategic aims – he has set for a Labour government, but each mission comes with its own set of targets (sub-missions?), and, as Matthew Weaver and Pippa Crerar report, the health one will include reducing deaths from suicide.
Starmer gave more details of his thinking on health in an interview round this morning. Here are some of the points he made.
Starmer claimed the NHS was “always better funded under Labour”. The overnight briefing from Labour about his speech suggests that he is not going to promise extra money for the NHS in what he announces this morning. But when asked about funding, he told the Today programme:
Money is part of the answer and the NHS is always better funded under Labour.
So far as the money is concerned, firstly, wherever we’ve made a specific commitment we’re setting out in terms today how we’ll pay for that.
I ran our public service for five years, I do know that if you put more money in the top you do get a better outcome, so money is, of course, part of the answer, but we’ve also got to change and reform.
If we go down the path of prevention, that actually will not only be a lot better for people’s lives and their health, but also in the long run actually cost a lot less.
We don’t want to go down the road of making food more expensive in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, which is why today we’ll focus on advertising rather than increasing the cost to food, because I think for many families who are already struggling the idea that food prices would go up again is something which simply wouldn’t be tolerable from their point of view.
But he said his “very strong view” was that sugary food, and vaping, should not be advertised to children. He said:
In the speech I’m going to deal with vaping and junk food and sugary foods, which should not be advertised to children in my very strong view. It’s so bad for their health, so bad for the NHS.
Good morning. Rishi Sunak is back from Japan, and this morning he is due to meet Sir Laurie Magnus, his ethics adviser, to discuss whether Magnus should launch an inquiry into claims that Suella Braverman, the home secretary, broke the ministerial code when she asked officials about arranging a private speed awareness course after she was caught speeding. These courses are meant to be group events, but Braverman did not want a bunch of strangers to know she was taking part.
Given the controversy this story has aroused, it will be surprising if Sunak does not order an inquiry. Here is Pippa Crerar’s overnight story.
On the BBC’s Westminster Hour last night Philip Rycroft, a former permanent secretary at the Brexit department, said he thought Braverman had broken the ministerial code. He told the programme:
This, on the face of it, I think, is a breach of the ministerial code. Obviously, there’s still investigations to be done and so on but the code is very clear. Ministers must ensure that no conflict arises or appears to arise between their public duties and their private interests.
Even asking a question of a civil servant as to how she might go on one of these courses puts them in an impossible position. And for somebody, you know, who wakes up in the morning and sees a future prime minister, this is a real lapse of judgment.
And this morning Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA, the union that represents senior civil servants, said he thought Braverman has abused her position. He told Sky News:
Civil servants are publicly funded. They’re paid for by you and me. They’re not there to support the personal interests of a minister. They don’t do their shopping, they don’t look after their children and they don’t sort out their speeding fine.
In truth, as breaches of the ministerial code go, this seems to be at the mild end of what might count, and if this story were about a more anonymous member of the cabinet (Mel Stride, Gillian Keegan?), it would be attracting far less attention.
But Braverman is not an anonymous minister, which is why this issue is a problem for Sunak. She has already had to resign once for breaching the ministerial code, for sending an official document from her personal email to a fellow MP. She has set herself up as the de facto leader of a Tory faction pushing for a much harder stance on legal and illegal immigration, to the extent that she sometimes gives the impression that she wants to be sacked. But this has also given her a following, and her allies are briefing the media that she is the victim of a smear campaign.
This morning Keir Starmer said that if Braverman has broken the ministerial code, she should resign. Peter Walker has the story here.
“The ministerial code is pretty clear that if you break it, you’re supposed to go,” Starmer said.
In fact, Starmer is wrong about that. The code used to operate on that basis, but guidance from No 10 issued last year says that if a minister has broken the code, in some circumstances a public apology would be the appropriate sanction. It says:
As both Lord Geidt and the Committee on Standards in Public Life have recommended last year, it is disproportionate to expect that any breach, however minor, should lead automatically to resignation or dismissal. The sanction which the prime minister may decide to issue in a given case is for the prime minister to determine, but could include requiring some form of public apology, remedial action or removal of ministerial salary for a period. The ministerial code has been updated to reflect this.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10.25am: Keir Starmer gives a speech on Labour’s health mission.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
2.30pm: Suella Braverman, the home secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
After 3.30pm: Rishi Sunak is expected to make a Commons statement on the G7 summit.
After 4.30pm: MPs debate Labour amendments to the strikes (minimum service levels) bill.
5pm: James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, gives a speech in Chile.
If you want to contact me, do try the “send us a message” feature. You’ll see it just below the byline – on the left of the screen, if you are reading on a PC or a laptop. (It is not available on the app yet.) This is for people who want to message me directly. I find it very useful when people message to point out errors (even typos – no mistake is too small to correct). Often I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either in the comments below the line, privately (if you leave an email address and that seems more appropriate), or in the main blog, if I think it is a topic of wide interest.
https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMinQFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVndWFyZGlhbi5jb20vcG9saXRpY3MvbGl2ZS8yMDIzL21heS8yMi9zdWVsbGEtYnJhdmVybWFuLXJpc2hpLXN1bmFrLXNwZWVkaW5nLXJvdy1taW5pc3RlcmlhbC1jb2RlLWV0aGljcy1pbnF1aXJ5LWtlaXItc3Rhcm1lci11ay1wb2xpdGljcy1saXZl0gGdAWh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLnRoZWd1YXJkaWFuLmNvbS9wb2xpdGljcy9saXZlLzIwMjMvbWF5LzIyL3N1ZWxsYS1icmF2ZXJtYW4tcmlzaGktc3VuYWstc3BlZWRpbmctcm93LW1pbmlzdGVyaWFsLWNvZGUtZXRoaWNzLWlucXVpcnkta2Vpci1zdGFybWVyLXVrLXBvbGl0aWNzLWxpdmU?oc=5
2023-05-22 08:05:00Z
CBMinQFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVndWFyZGlhbi5jb20vcG9saXRpY3MvbGl2ZS8yMDIzL21heS8yMi9zdWVsbGEtYnJhdmVybWFuLXJpc2hpLXN1bmFrLXNwZWVkaW5nLXJvdy1taW5pc3RlcmlhbC1jb2RlLWV0aGljcy1pbnF1aXJ5LWtlaXItc3Rhcm1lci11ay1wb2xpdGljcy1saXZl0gGdAWh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLnRoZWd1YXJkaWFuLmNvbS9wb2xpdGljcy9saXZlLzIwMjMvbWF5LzIyL3N1ZWxsYS1icmF2ZXJtYW4tcmlzaGktc3VuYWstc3BlZWRpbmctcm93LW1pbmlzdGVyaWFsLWNvZGUtZXRoaWNzLWlucXVpcnkta2Vpci1zdGFybWVyLXVrLXBvbGl0aWNzLWxpdmU
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