Markus Andrews

Minutes of a key telephone call about a contract awarded to Randox after it employed Owen Paterson as a consultant have been lost, a minister says.MPs were told details of the conference call could not be found – just one hour after Boris Johnson bowed to pressure to release details of the contracts.Labour’s Angela Eagle attacked the “astonishing revelation”, saying: “There have been meetings with no minutes that are official and involve government ministers.”The Commons Speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, also laid bare his alarm – at the start of a Commons debate on sleaze, in which Labour is attempting to force the release of all records.Sir Lindsay said accurate record keeping was even more important during the Covid pandemic, telling the minister, Gillian Keegan: “I’m very, very concerned.”Mr Paterson’s work for Randox is in the spotlight after documents appeared to show the firm was awarded a £133m testing contract despite government officials knowing it did not have enough equipment.The army had to be drafted in to secure the equipment for the Northern Ireland company that eventually won almost £600m in Covid testing dealsAttention has been focused on a conference call on 9 April last year between Mr Paterson and the conservative peer Lord Bethell, the minister responsible for testing contracts, a week and a half after the first contract.The Sunday Times reported that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) was refusing to release minutes of the call.In the Commons, health minister Ms Keegan was asked to commit to releasing details of the phone call – claiming, at first, that only Randox and Mr Paterson would know what was said.Under pressure, she then switched tack, admitting to “a courtesy call from the minister to Randox”, but told MPs: “We have been unable to locate a formal note of that meeting.”Ms Keegan said of “other notes that are available”: “In terms of the minutes, I think we’ve said we will publish things here in the library.”Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, seized on the comments as an admission “that the government is routinely breaking the ministerial code”.“When a minister meets an organisation or company an official must be present to keep a record of that meeting,” she tweeted.Ms Keegan said later the government would sit on its hands in the vote on the release of the Randox contract details, which will allow it to pass with Labour votes. More

The Home Office is blocking MPs from visiting the Napier Barracks asylum accommodation, the former leader of the Liberal Democrats has complained.Tim Farron told the House of Commons this afternoon ministers had not responded to his request for a visit, having rejected an earlier one in September as well as a separate request by the home affairs committee.Napier Barracks, in Folkestone in Kent, has become infamous for the poor conditions in which people are held. The former military site has failed to provide “a standard of living which was adequate for the health of” asylum seekers, the High Court ruled in June.Mr Justice Linden said the Home Office had acted unlawfully in repurposing the site for asylum accommodation, and that the idea it was safe for habitation was “irrational”. However, the government is still housing people there.Ministers are facing legal action over plans to continue using Napier Barracks for several more years.Mr Farron has now raised a point of order in parliament to pile pressure on the government, saying the need for an in-person visit is now “more than pressing” and that he had heard nothing back from the Home Office.A cross-party group of MPs, including the Conservative David Simmons and Labour’s Neil Coyle, has been pushing for access to Napier Barracks.The group declined the Home Office’s previous offer of a video tour on the grounds they would not be able to conduct proper scrutiny. They asked again on 27 October and gave a deadline for response of 10 November.Following Mr Farron’s address on Wednesday, the Commons speaker conceded that while invitation decisions rested with the government the use of Napier Barracks had become a matter of intense public debate.Sir Lindsey Hoyle added: “Of course, I would always encourage the government to agree to such requests … not least to ensure [MPs] are able to hold the government to account in a well-informed manner.“I do not know any reason for refusal in this case … At the very least I hope that Home Office ministers will discuss the matter properly with [Mr Farron].”The Home Office told The Independent it would respond to the MPs’ request “in due course”. More

A senior Conservative MP has warned Boris Johnson that he will be breaking his word to so-called “red wall” voters if the government backs out of a promised new rail link in the north of England.The government has been accused of failing in its pledge to “level up” the north due to Thursday’s expected announcement that part of the eastern leg of HS2 between Birmingham and Leeds will be scrapped.But there is even greater anger over reports that a boost to east-west rail connections – known as Northern Powerhouse Rail – will likely involve only improvements to existing infrastructure, rather than a promised new line between Manchester and Leeds.Tory MP Jake Berry, chair of the powerful Northern Research Group (NRG), warned Mr Johnson that voters who switched from Labour to the Tories had not forgotten the pledge.Reminding him of his promises at PMQs, Mr Berry said: “In July 2019, I was in Manchester when the prime minister committed to build a new line – Northern Powerhouse Rail – between Manchester and Leeds.”The influential MP for Rossendale and Darwen added: “It was a firm commitment reaffirmed in our manifesto in November 2019, and last month reaffirmed in the prime minister’s conference speech in Manchester. Were the voters in the north right to take the prime minister at his word?”The prime minister replied “yes” – and insisted that the government would be announcing significant rail investments. “[Voters] should wait and see what is unveiled tomorrow, where he may learn something to his advantage,” he told Mr Berry.Amid a backlash from both Labour and Tory MPs, opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer asked Mr Johnson if he will he “stick” by his promise – reminding the PM the government had committed to “at least an entirely new high speed rail line between Manchester and Leeds”.Mr Johnson said the government’s rail plan would “cut journey times” and give the north the “same access to commuter-type services that people in the south east of this country have felt entitled”.Philip Davies, the Conservative MP for Shipley, has also warned the government that warned it would be a “massive disappointment” if a new link between Manchester and Leeds, via Bradford, is not built in full.“The issue has never been getting to London, the problem is getting across the north itself,” Mr Davies said. “Anything less than the new [Northern Powerhouse Rail] link would be a massive disappointment and a huge missed opportunity.”Newspapers across northern England – including the Manchester Evening News and The Chronicle in Newcastle – have united to call on Mr Johnson to deliver what was promised on rail investment.The measures will be announced by transport secretary Grant Shapps when he publishes the Integrated Rail Plan on Thursday.The Department for Transport is expected to argue that HS2 trains will still serve Leeds – but putting them on mainline tracks north of the East Midlands rather than on high-speed lines.The government is also reportedly ready to scale back ambitions for Northern Powerhouse Rail, with proposals to deliver it through track upgrades rather than building a new line via Bradford.Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake, who represents Thirsk and Malton in North Yorkshire, told the i newspaper that any attempt to trip back plans suggested the government was “not willing to put our money where our mouth is”. More

The Speaker has rebuked Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer during a heated Commons row over the Westminster sleaze scandal.The prime minister was told off four times by Lindsay Hoyle for trying to ask the Labour leader questions about his second job.A furious Sir Lindsay told Mr Johnson to sit down, adding: “You may be the Prime Minister of this country but in this House I’m in charge.”He repeated a familiar refrain that the session was “Prime Minister’s Questions” and that it was “to for the Opposition to answer your questions” about Sir Keir’s legal work.The prime minister had asked Sir Keir to reveal which clients he had worked for while an MP.He also accused Sir Keir of “Mish-conduct”, a pun on the name of the law firm Mishcon de Reya, where the Labour MP was offered a job.But Labour leader Sir Keir concluded the exchange by calling Mr Johnson a “coward”, which the Speaker said amounted to unparliamentary language.“’Coward’ is not what is used in this House – and I’m sure that the leader of the opposition will withdraw it,” the Speaker said.After his own rebuke, Sir Keir said: “I withdraw it – but he’s no leader” – referring to the prime ministerThe Speaker Sir Lindsay said the change showed that the parties had not learned from the corruption scandal which engulfed Westminster.”I don’t think this has done this House any good today,” he said.”I’ll be quite honest, I think it’s been ill-tempered, I think it shows the public that this House has not learnt from the other week, I need this House to gain respect but it starts by individuals showing respect for each other.” More

Three-quarters of the public are concerned about corruption in government, including seven in 10 of 2019 Conservative voters, according to a new poll.It comes after Boris Johnson said that Britain is not “remotely a corrupt country” as a sleaze row engulfed the Conservatives after the botched attempt to block Owen Paterson’s suspension from Parliament.The move resulted in a screeching government U-turn and also led to accusations of government “corruption” from opposition leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer, who again highlighted the issue at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday.According to a new poll by Savanta ComRes, a significant majority of voters (76 per cent) said they were concerned about government corruption – compared to just 19 per cent who said they were not concerned.Defining corruption as ‘dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power’, the pollsters asked: “To what extent, if at all, are you concerned or not concerned about corruption in the UK government?”.Significantly, among those who voted Conservative at the 2019 general election, 72 per cent also said they were concerned. An overwhelming majority of Labour voters (90 per cent) also expressed concerned about government corruption.However, just last week, the prime minister, who has faced repeated calls to apologise over the failed attempt to create a Conservative-dominated body to review parliamentary standards, insisted: “I genuinely believe that the UK is not a remotely corrupt country, not do I believe that our institutions are corrupt.”He added: “We have a very, very tough system of parliamentary democracy and scrutiny, not least by the media. I think what you have got is cases where, sadly, MPs have broken the rules in the past, may be guilty of breaking the rules today. What I want to see is them facing appropriate sanctions.”Amid a wider debate over second jobs in politics, the poll also demonstrates little support for increasing MPs’ £81,000 salary, with just nine per cent of respondents suggesting the pay packet was too low – compared to 56 per cent saying it was too high and 30 per cent believing it was about right.“Perhaps the only thing more eye-brow raising than the details of MPs’ second jobs that have emerged over the last week is the fact that Boris Johnson and the government allowed the debate to get to this point in the first place,” said the political research director at Savanta ComRes, Chris Hopkins.He added: “Our data from last week, which showed low levels of support for MPs being allowed to take on other work, will be compounded by this new polling, with just one in ten taking the the view that MPs’ salaries are too low, and well over half thinking that, in fact, their £81k remuneration is actually too high.“Even more concerning though will be the significant majority of the public who are now concerned about corruption in central government, and one can’t help but think that government scandals, otherwise largely confined to the Westminster ‘bubble’ may have begun to shift the needer on wider public opinion”.Savanta ComRes interviews 2,207 UK adults between 12-14 November 2021. Data were weighted by age, sex, region and SEG. Savanta ComRes is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules. More

Tory MPs who fail to back Labour’s demands for restrictions on second jobs in a crunch vote today will be targeted with digital ads in their constituencies, a spokesperson for Keir Starmer has warned.The party hopes to drive home charges of Conservative sleaze by accusing any who vote against the plans of standing in the way of efforts to clean up politics.Labour has accused Boris Johnson of using “dirty tricks” in a bid to water down their proposals, after the PM tabled a rival motion which would not be binding on the government.But parliamentary rules mean that MPs will vote on Labour’s motion first at around 7pm today. Only if that is defeated will a division be held on the proposals dramatically announced on Tuesday by the prime minister.Both the Labour motion and Conservative amendment call for a ban on MPs working as a parliamentary strategist, adviser or consultant.But Downing Street says that Mr Johnson’s plan is tougher as it also proposes a ban on second jobs which take an unreasonable amount of MPs’ time away from constituency and parliamentary work.However, Labour says that its motion is binding because it sets a timetable for reform and requires parliamentary time to be made available in the New Year for it to be enacted.By contrast, they warn, Mr Johnson’s scheme would kick the issue into the long grass, as it asks the Commons Standards Committee to draw up detailed proposals by the end of January but makes no commitment to put them into law.Sir Keir’s spokesman said: “If Tory MPs vote against our motion they are voting against swift action on political consultancies.“If I was a Tory MP, I would think very seriously before voting against Labour’s plan to clean up politics.“We will be making that a campaign issue straight away after the vote today.“We have got the digital ads ready to go in these constituencies, to tell voters that their MP voted against cleaning up politics.” More

Boris Johnson has bowed to pressure to release the Randox contracts at the heart of the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal, in a second sleaze U-turn in 24 hours.The concession came ahead of a Commons debate and vote on releasing details of the work secured by the firm which employed the disgraced former cabinet minister as a consultant.Keir Starmer, who is pushing for the lid to be lifted, told the prime minister: “We’ll take that.”The climbdown – which follows Mr Johnson’s U-turn over banning MPs’ having consultancy jobs – came in a stormy prime minister’s questions which saw him repeatedly rebuked by the Commons speaker.Lindsay Hoyle told him to “sit down” – as he tried to ask questions of the Labour leader – saying “You may be the prime minister of this country, but in this House I’m in charge.”Mr Johnson again refused to apologise for the botched handling of the Paterson scandal, leading Sir Keir to brand him “a coward”.On the Randox contracts, the Labour leader said: “We know that he sat in on a call between Randox and the minister responsible for handling health contracts.“We know that Randox has been awarded government contracts worth almost £600m without competition or tender.”Sir Keir said the “only one way to get to the bottom” of the affair was to release the contracts, asking: “Will he vote for it? Or will he vote for another cover up?”In response, Mr Johnson said: “I’m very happy to publish all the details of the Randox contracts, which have been investigated by the National Audit Office already.”Sir Keir was then rebuked for using the word “coward” and told the Speaker: “I withdraw it – but he’s no leader.”Later, his spokesperson questioned whether all the “minutes” of conversations would be released, as Labour is demanding, saying: “Let’s see what the prime minister has actually agreed to release.”Put on the back foot again over sleaze, Mr Johnson was taunted that he “somehow expects us to believe he’s the man to clean up Westminster”.Sir Keir added: “He led his troops through the sewers to cover up corruption and he can’t even say sorry. The truth is that beneath the bluster he still thinks it’s one rule for him and another for his mates.”The prime minister tried to turn the tables by alleging “Mish-conduct” by the Labour leader, who did paid work, as an MP, for the top law firm Mishcon de Reya.“We will get on, on a cross-party basis, with taking forward the business I have outlined and we will get on with the business of this government,” he told MPs.He told the SNP leader, Ian Blackford: “I think these constant attacks on the UK’s levels of corruption and sleaze do a massive disservice to billions of people around the world who genuinely suffer from governments that are corrupt and genuinely have no ability to scrutinise their MPs.“This is one of the cleanest democracies in the world and people should be proud of that.” More

MPs will still be able to work up to 20 hours a week on their second jobs under the government’s plan to tighten the rules, a cabinet minister has suggested.Boris Johnson has faced criticism over the vagueness of his proposal to ban consultancy jobs and limit work outside of parliament to what can be done “within reasonable limits”.International trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said an MP doing 20 hours a week of work outside parliament would still be considered “reasonable”.She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Let’s say two shifts, that would be 16 hours a week. Are we saying 10 to 20 hours a week outside your work as an MP and a parliamentarian? If that’s what you chose to do as your choice, that’s fine.”Ms Trevelyan said that she worked a “90-hour week” doing her jobs as an MP and minister – and suggested there was no reason for under-fire Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Cox to cut down on his lucrative legal work.Boris Johnson will face a showdown with his own backbenchers over plans to ban MPs from paid political consultancy work, amid a fresh row over alleged Tory “dirty tricks” and Westminster “sleaze”.Labour’s motion calls for a ban on consultancy work and includes provisions requiring the Commons Standards Committee to come forward with proposals to implement the ban and guaranteeing time to vote on them.In contrast, the more vaguely-worded government amendment simply describes the consultancy ban as “the basis of a viable approach”. And in a vague proposal announced on Tuesday, Mr Johnson said he wanted to limit second jobs “within reasonable limits”.Earlier on Wednesday, Ms Trevelyan suggested an MP spending between 10 to 15 hours a week on work outside of parliament would be reasonable – claiming that it was simply a matter of “common sense”.She told BBC Breakfast: “I think there is a common-sense test which is if you probably do 40-50 hours a week doing your main job, doing 10 or 15 hours a week doing something else, whatever you choose to do in your spare time.”Ms Trevelyan also suggested Sir Geoffrey – in the spotlight after earning almost £1m over the last year working an estimated 20 hours a week on legal work – may not have to reduce his second job under new rules to tackle sleaze.“That’s a question to discuss,” she told BBC Breakfast. “Key is, is he doing a good job for his constituents? Do they think he’s doing a good job for them? And, from what I’ve heard, no-one has stood up and said otherwise.The minister compared Sir Geoffrey to Tory MP Maria Caulfield, who continues to serves in the NHS as a nurse – and made clear the changes proposed by the prime minister did not have “anything to do with money at all”.She added: “That he continues to practise … is perfectly acceptable because in the same way that Maria Caulfield serves in the NHS as a nurse continues to practise her profession alongside serving her constituents is, I think, important for the NHS,” she said.Asked by LBC about the huge amounts earned by Sir Geoffrey, Mr Trevelyan said: “I don’t think that’s a problem, personally. I think that richness of the different skill sets and qualifications and experiences that we all bring to the house as MPs is important.”As well as a two-hour grilling in front of parliament’s liaison committee this afternoon, Mr Johnson will face the backbench 1922 Committee later on Wednesday in a bid to repair relations with his MPs.Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, treasurer of 1922 Committee, said there was “dissatisfaction” with the prime minister in the Tory ranks. He told the Today programme a ban on paid consultancy work but going further could “deter a whole class of people” from entering politics. More