Markus Andrews

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Greece’s prime minister insisted Tuesday that the rule of law in the country was “stronger than ever,” despite mounting criticism from press freedom and human rights groups.Kyriakos Mitsotakis blamed political opponents for the criticism of his center-right government and argued that the “country was at the center of a slander (campaign).”He hosted Roberta Metsola, the European Parliament president, who is touring European Union capitals ahead of elections to the EU’s legislative branch in June.Earlier this month, 17 human rights and press freedom organizations including Human Rights Watch and the Committee to Protect Journalists, wrote to the European Commission to voice concerns about Greece. Their letter cited multiple accounts and allegations that the government has targeted or failed to protect journalists, activists and human rights campaigners from attacks using spyware, coercive law suits, and obstructive regulations.Similar complaints were made in a resolution approved by the European Parliament on Feb. 7.Mitsotakis maintained that domestic opponents of his government were tarnishing Greece’s reputation in order to attack him. “It seems a little odd that certain forces in our country, which once used the most anti-European, populist slogans, suddenly present themselves as the defenders of justice and democratic values and justice,” he said, in an apparent reference to Greece’s left-wing opposition.He cited Greece’s recent adoption of same-sex marriage legislation and plans to introduce a postal vote as evidence of the country’s improving record.Rule of law issues are receiving additional attention in EU member states ahead of the June elections, as established political parties fight off challenges from populist rivals across the bloc.Metsola said her tour was designed to boost public confidence in EU institutions as well as voter participation – noting that rule-of-law issues formed a foundation of public trust. “We want to discuss these issues honestly, and we need to be careful not to politicize or weaponize important discussions on the rule of law,” she said.Metsola later spoke at the Greek parliament and was due to hold a town hall meeting with young people to discuss the June elections.___Theodora Tongas in Athens, Greece contributed.___Follow AP’s coverage of democracy at: https://apnews.com/hub/democracy More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailMinisters in David Cameron’s administration were told that Post Office bosses had dropped a secret investigation that may have helped to prove postmaster’s innocence while continuing to deny that the Horizon computer system was faulty, it has been claimed. A 2016 internal investigation into how and why cash accounts on the Horizon IT system had been tampered with – which spanned 17 years of records – was suddenly dropped after postmasters began legal action.According to the BBC, ministers in Mr Cameron’s administration were told Post Office bosses had dropped the inquiry – while denying Horizon computer system was faulty.Despite the investigation, the organisation still argued in court, two years later, that it was impossible for Fujitsu to remotely access subpostmaster accounts.More than 700 branch managers were prosecuted by the Post Office between 1999 and 2015 after faulty Horizon accounting software made it look as though money was missing from their shops.Hundreds of subpostmasters and subpostmistresses are still awaiting compensation despite the government announcing that those who have had convictions quashed are eligible for £600,000 payouts.Lord Cameron (PA)But the latest revelations raise questions as to how long ministers had been aware of the possibility of remote access and why the government did nothing to prevent the Post Office from saying that Fujitsu could not alter branch manager’s accounts. Documents obtained by the BBC show how the secret 2016 investigation into Fujitsu’s use of remote access had come out of a review by former top Treasury lawyer Jonathan Swift QC, which had been approved by the then-business secretary Sajid Javid. But in June that year, when sub-postmasters launched their legal action, the government was told through Post Office minister Baroness Neville-Rolfe that the investigation had been scrapped on “very strong advice” from the senior barrister representing them.There is no evidence in the documents that then-prime minister Mr Cameron personally knew about the investigation or that it had been ditched.A spokesperson for Lord Cameron pointed to his previous comments saying he could not remember being briefed about the Horizon scandal while he was prime minister.The foreign secretary, who was in No.10 between 2010 and 2016, said in January: “I don’t recall in any detail being briefed or being aware of the scale of this issue.”He added that anyone who was involved in government over the last two decades had to be “extremely sorry” for the miscarriage of justiceThe revelations follow a series of explosive interactions between the former Post Office chairman, Henry Staunton and current business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, as Mr Staunton accused Ms Kemi Badenoch of making “an astonishing series of claims” and mischaracterisations after she told MPs he had spread “made-up anecdotes” following his dismissal.The former post office boss has said that he had been told to stall compensation payouts for postmasters affected by the Horizon scandal.In a statement to the Commons, the business secretary said there was “no evidence whatsoever” of his account and branded it “a blatant attempt to seek revenge” for his sacking.She also claimed he was being investigated over bullying allegations before he was fired as chairman, and that concerns were raised about his “willingness to co-operate” with the probe.Hitting back later on Monday, a spokesperson for Mr Staunton said Ms Badenoch had made an “astonishing series of claims” about the saga.Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch rejected what Henry Staunton said in an interview with the Sunday Times In a statement given to reporters, they said he had recorded the comment about delaying compensation “at the time in a file note which he emailed to himself and to colleagues and which is therefore traceable on the Post Office Server”.In relation to the alleged bullying investigation, the spokesperson said: “This is the first time the existence of such allegations have been mentioned and Mr Staunton is not aware of any aspect of his conduct which could give rise to such allegations.“They were certainly not raised by the Secretary of State at any stage and certainly not during the conversation which led to Mr Staunton’s dismissal. Such behaviour would in any case be totally out of character.”Downing Street backed Ms Badenoch’s statement in parliament in which she said there had been an investigation into bullying allegations against Mr Staunton, with a spokesman for the prime minister confirming it was cleared with No10.The prime minister’s official spokesman also urged the Post Office to share a note Mr Staunton claims proves he was given a so-called go slow order to delay compensation to postmasters.“If such a note exists, we obviously would encourage the Post Office to share it so it can be investigated and we can take any action that’s necessary,” he added.Mr Staunton, who was sacked by the business secretary last month, had used a Sunday Times interview to suggest that the alleged request to delay payouts was linked to concerns about the cost of Horizon scandal compensation heading into the election.Ms Badenoch had said allegations relating to Mr Staunton’s conduct, including “serious matters such as bullying”, were being examined and concerns were also raised about his “willingness to co-operate” with the formal investigation.Speaking in the Commons, she also described it as “so disappointing that he’s chosen to spread a series of falsehoods, provide made-up anecdotes to journalists and leak discussions held in confidence”.Ms Badenoch said it had confirmed in her mind that “I made the correct decision in dismissing him”.Ministers are facing questions following the claims by the former Post Office chairman For Labour, shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said ministers must ensure claims the government had looked to stall Horizon compensation payments are “shown to be false in no uncertain terms”.He said: “Yet we do now have two completely contrasting accounts, one from the chairman of the Post Office, and one from the Secretary of State, and only one of these accounts can be the truth.”Ms Badenoch reiterated her denial of the claims and said: “There would be no benefit whatsoever of us delaying compensation.“This does not have any significant impact on revenues whatsoever. It would be a mad thing to even suggest, and the compensation scheme which Mr Staunton oversaw has actually been completed, and my understanding is 100 per cent of payments have been made, so clearly no instruction was given.”Chair of the business committee Liam Byrne told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “What we could do without right now is a war of words between the secretary of state and the former chairman, what we really need is ministers writing checks to the hundreds of subpostmasters who need redress, and they’ve been waiting for too long.”Mr Byrne said he “hopes” to be able to obtain a contemporaneous note Mr Staunton kept after being given the so-called “go slow” order.He added: “Yesterday I invited Mr Staunton to come before the committee next week, and today we will be sending for the papers that we need to try and get to the truth. “Crucially, we’ll be sending for that note that Mr Staunton says he made that sets out the go slow order that he says he received from senior civil servants… but which the secretary of state professed no knowledge of yesterday.”Environment secretary Steve Barclay has given his backing to the business secretary and said that the government is focused on securing justice for subpostmasters caught up in the Horizon scandal.Environment secretary Steve Barclay has defended the business minister He told Times Radio that Ms Badenoch is “someone who has an absolute commitment to doing the right thing by those who have suffered what is one of the biggest miscarriages of justice that our country has seen, and also in terms of the importance of statements to the House of Commons. That is something that any minister making a statement takes extremely seriously.”Asked if he believed Kemi Badenoch, he replied: “Yes.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey answers questions from the House of Commons’ Treasury Committee on Tuesday 20 February.Figures released this week show the rate of inflation (CPI) remained steady at 4 per cent in January – despite many economists forecasting an increase. This has led to heightened speculation that the Bank of England may consider cutting interest rates from the summer.MPs are likely to ask witnesses, including Mr Bailey, about the future path of inflation, whether risks of over-tightening monetary policy have increased since the November forecast, and their views on the future of wage growth.The committee is sitting on the same week that the UK’s biggest banks are set to report record-high profits after a year that saw lenders benefit from higher borrowing costs.Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and Standard Chartered will report their financial results for 2023, on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday respectively.On Friday, NatWest revealed its biggest yearly profit since 2007, before the global financial crisis, and a fifth higher than the previous year. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSilicon Valley tech giants’ actions could “severely disable” UK spooks from preventing harm caused by online paedophiles and fraudsters, Suella Braverman has suggested.The Conservative former home secretary named Facebook owner Meta, and Apple, and their use of technologies such as end-to-end encryption as a threat to attempts to tackle digital crimes.She claimed the choice to back these technologies without “safeguards” could “enable and indeed facilitate some of the worst atrocities that our brave men and women in law enforcement agencies deal with every day”, as MPs began considering changes to investigatory powers laws.The Investigatory Powers (Amendment) Bill includes measures to make it easier for agencies to examine and retain bulk datasets, such as publicly available online telephone records, and would allow intelligence agencies to use internet connection records to aid detection of their targets.We know that the terrorists, the serious organised criminals, and fraudsters, and the online paedophiles, all take advantage of the dark web and encrypted spacesSuella BravermanAs the Commons started scrutinising the changes, Ms Braverman said: “We know that the terrorists, the serious organised criminals, and fraudsters, and the online paedophiles, all take advantage of the dark web and encrypted spaces to plan their terror, to carry out their fraudulent activity, and to cause devastating harm to some innocent people such as children in the field of online paedophilia.”In a question to Home Secretary James Cleverly, she asked: “Does he share my concern and indeed frustration with certain companies like Meta and Apple?“The former that has chosen to roll out end-to-end encryption without safeguards, the latter which has rolled out advanced data protection, which will allow these bad actors to go dark, which will severely disable agencies and law enforcement from identifying them and taking action, and which will enable and indeed facilitate some of the worst atrocities that our brave men and women in law enforcement agencies deal with every day?”Mr Cleverly replied that the Government took harm done to children “incredibly seriously”, and valued the “important role” that investigatory powers have.He added: “We will continue to work with technology companies, both those well established at the moment, and those of the future, to ensure that we maintain the balance between privacy and security as we have always done, but ensure that these technology platforms do not provide a hiding place for terrorists or serious criminals and those people taking part in child sexual exploitation.”Labour former minister Kevan Jones urged the Government to ensure that there was “judicial oversight” of new powers to snoop on bulk datasets.Mr Jones, a member of Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, added: “Isn’t it the fact that if we are going to give these powers to the security services – which I approve of – that to ensure that we can say to the public that these are proportionate and also that there is an independent process in ensuring that these can’t be abused, surely judicial oversight throughout this should be an important thing?”Mr Cleverly insisted there was oversight, including through the Intelligence and Security Committee.When the Bill was considered by the House of Lords, ministers agreed to tighten new rules on the interception of MPs’ communications.But SNP MP Joanna Cherry suggested it could still “open the door even further than its parent Bill on the surveillance of trade unions”.The Edinburgh South West MP asked: “I wonder whether he will agree with me that there should be no place for the surveillance of trade unions in a democracy, and if he agrees with that, will he consider amendment to the Bill to make sure it doesn’t happen?”Security minister Tom Tugendhat addressed concerns about trade unions, telling the Commons that rules around MPs’ communications had only been placed in the Bill because of the “particular” nature of their roles.Mr Tugendhat added: “That doesn’t mean that any attitude against any other individual should be used cavalierly. It is not a question of the role or the post that a person holds, but their rights as a British citizen, and those rights as a British citizen should be absolutely guarded from intrusion or aggression from the state without exceptionally good reason.”Labour shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said her party would support the Bill and would “work with the Government to get the details of it right”.Apple and Meta were contacted for comment. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak’s appearance on GB News has been put under investigation by the broadcast watchdog after receiving hundreds of complaints. Ofcom said the so-called People’s Forum garnered around 500 complaints and it was investigating the show under its impartiality rules. The rules state that broadcasters must present news shows with due accuracy and impartiality. Ofcom pointed to provisions in the broadcasting code requiring outlets to ensure an “appropriately wide range of significant views must be included and given due weight in such programmes”. Rishi Sunak during GB News’s People’s Forum earlier this month The show, People’s Forum: The Prime Minister, was broadcast on GB News last Monday and saw Mr Sunak quizzed over the NHS, his Rwanda asylum plan and why right-wing voters should back the Tories. Facing a cross-section of voters in County Durham, one audience member pressed him on why traditional Tory voters should back his party over the Nigel Farage-founded Reform UK.The 60-minute question and answer session took a similar format to the PM Connect events Mr Sunak has held around the country.The SNP’s John Nicolson, a member of parliament’s culture committee, said he was “glad” to see Ofcom investigating the event. He said: “I’m glad to see Ofcom investigate GB News again for another flagrant breach of the Ofcom impartiality rules. However I’m not at all convinced that GB News cares much about Ofcom or takes the regulator seriously.” GB News is currently being investigated by Ofcom for a number of other shows, including many over impartiality issues.The issue of political figures such as Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg and current Conservative deputy chair Lee Anderson presenting topical programmes has also been contentious.Former pensions minister Esther McVey and backbencher Philip Davies are also presenters on GB News, and former culture secretary Nadine Dorries began hosting a programme on TalkTV before she quit as an MP.Labour’s shadow foreign secretary David Lammy also hosts a show on LBC.Mr Sunak’s official spokesperson said the PM did not regret taking part in the programme and said it is “a matter for Ofcom, which is rightly an independent regulator”.“The prime minister undertakes interviews from a range of broadcasters, outlets and other media,” the spokesperson said.He added: “Media appearances such as the one he conducted last week are an important part of the democratic process.” More