UK Politics

Whitehall mandarin Sue Gray’s report into lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street will include details from emails suggesting “premeditation” among officials planning events, it was claimed today.One unnamed source told the Sunday Times that the report will show that rules were “wilfully broken”, with one official breaking into discussion on the venue for a planned event to ask: “Is this wise?”Ms Gray’s full report into Partygate is to be published after the completion of Metropolitan Police inquiries into 12 events in No 10 and Whitehall alleged to have broken Covid-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021.Police have already handed out fines – including a £50 penalty which made Boris Johnson the first sitting PM to be punished for breaking the law – but more are expected to come as they work through questionnaires filled in by more than 100 politicians and officials.Fresh questionnaires are understood to have been sent out in the last few days relating to the leaving party of former Downing Street director of communications Lee Cain in November 2020.An email exchange relating to leaving drinks for No 10 staffer Hannah Young in June 2020, obtained by the Sunday Times and believed to have been submitted to Ms Gray’s inquiry, has raised new concerns over the level of planning which went into the events.Planning is a key factor in assessing the seriousness of any breaches, with Mr Johnson insisting that the birthday party for which he was fined was sprung on him unannounced, while he spent 25 minutes at a “bring your own booze” event for 50 staff in the No 10 garden under the impression it was a “work event”.One source told the Sunday Times: “The most shocking thing Sue’s report has uncovered is a series of emails which expose the extent to which the parties were premeditated and the rules were being willfully broken. She is also concerned by the lack of contrition shown by those who have been found to have broken the rules.”The email trail features a debate on whether rooms in No 10 were big enough to host Ms Young’s event at a time when coronavirus restrictions were in place, or whether a larger space should be found in the Cabinet Office.At one point, one of those involved is said to have questioned whether the event was a good idea, asking: “Is this wise?”It was at this point that MacNamara is said to have stepped in and assured others on the email chain that she had resolved the issue. According to insiders, she gave approval for a room to be used in the Cabinet Office.In the end, the event is believed to have begun in a communal area on the ground floor of the Cabinet Office, before “migrating” to a room close to the cabinet secretary’s office.Cabinet Office ethics chief Helen MacNamara – who was eventually fined £50 for attending the event – is said to have stepped in with the offer of a room, where the “raucous” event, involving a karaoke machine, was reported to have ended in a brawl between two staffers.Gray is also understood to have copies of another email in which a very senior official reportedly warned the PM’s then principal private secretary Martin Reynolds against the party for staff in the Downing Street garden in May 2020. More

Boris Johnson’s “anti-woke agenda” has helped fuel the rise in misogynistic behaviour in parliament, one of Labour’s most senior women MPs has said.Margaret Hodge’s comments came after the resignation of Tory MP Neil Parish for watching porn in the Commons chamber, and amid a flood of complaints about women at Westminster being groped, objectified and belittled because of their sex.Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is to convene a once-in-a-generation conference to bring parties and parliamentary authorities together to find solutions to the problem of bullying and sexual harassment. These could involve ending the arrangement where MPs directly employ their own staff, making it difficult for them to complain about their treatment.But cabinet minister Kwasi Kwarteng denied there was a culture of misogyny in parliament, blaming the string of recent cases on “bad apples” among MPs.And claims that 56 male MPs are currently under investigation for sexual misconduct were cast into doubt by the director of parliament’s Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, Jo Willows, who said 2022 was following a “similar trend” to last year, when a total of 15 cases were brought against MPs.Meanwhile, it emerged that the chair of the Commons standards committee, Chris Bryant, was himself “touched up” by male MPs when he arrived at Westminster as a young gay man in 2001.Mr Bryant, now 60, said he did not report the incidents for fear of becoming “part of the story” but would now take a more “robust” response.And SNP MP Anum Qaisar, who entered parliament last year, said she was advised by a female Tory MP on which of her male colleagues she should keep at a distance after one became “far too over-cavalier” towards her at a parliamentary event.“Since I joined parliament, I’ve been taken aside by female MPs to warn me about some male MPs,” said Ms Qaisar, 29. “They say ‘Actually, Anum, you’re probably better off staying away from X, Y and Z’.”Dame Margaret Hodge said that the upsurge in sexism complaints was partly caused by the “culture led from the top” in UK politics.“We have had Boris Johnson creating a culture where it’s OK to break the rules and we’ve got an ‘anti-woke’ culture being driven from the top,” she told BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend.“That anti-woke culture has allowed this sort of behaviour to be seen as the norm.”She said it was notable that foreign secretary Liz Truss had made no public comment, in her role as minister for women, about the issues raised by the Parish case.Mr Kwarteng insisted that parliament was a safe place for women but said that the pressures of the job drove some MPs to step over the line.“I don’t think there’s a culture of misogyny,” Mr Kwarteng told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday.“I think the problem we have is that people are working in a really intense environment. There are long hours. I think, generally, most people know their limits. They know how to act respectfully, but there are some instances where people don’t frankly act according to the highest standards.”Mr Kwarteng it would be “excessively puritanical” to shut down parliament’s bars in the hope of ending sexual misconduct and sleaze.“We’ve got to distinguish between some bad apples, people who behave badly, and the general environment,” he told the BBC’s Sunday Morning programme. “There are some bad apples, there are people who have acted very badly, and they should be held to account.”But Labour leader Keir Starmer said that MPs could not hide behind the excuse of pressure and long hours to explain away behaviour that would not be acceptable in other workplaces.“We can’t run this argument about this ‘high pressure culture’,” he said. “Take responsibility.“Neil Parish chose to watch porn in parliament. Tory MPs chose to make disparaging comments about Angela Rayner. They’ve got to take responsibility.”Sir Keir said a “cultural change” in attitudes towards misogyny in parliament needs not only to be led by the prime minister but to be “modelled” by Boris Johnson in his own behaviour.“There’s a cultural issue we have to get to grips with and culture change has to be led from and modelled from the top,” he told Ridge.The government had shown repeatedly that, when a Tory colleague gets into trouble, ministers’ “first instinct is to push it off into the long grass, hide what’s happening,” said Starmer.And he added: “That’s a political problem because the fish rots from the head.”Setting out his plans for the first speaker’s conference in Westminster since 2008, Speaker Hoyle said: “I take recent allegations of bullying and sexual impropriety, comments and advances very seriously, which is why it is time we reviewed our working practices, particularly whether it is right that individual MPs are the employers of their staff.“The question is: should someone else – or an outside body – employ the staff, as long as the MP has the right to choose them?”SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said it was becoming increasingly difficult to persaude women to take up political roles because of their concern that public life is not a “safe space” for them.“Fundamentally, this is about men accepting that they are the problem, and changing,” said Ms Sturgeon. “If we don’t change this quickly then the consequences and the implications are going to be really severe, not just for politics but for women in public life more generally.” More

Keir Starmer and Ed Davey have denied Conservative claims that Labour and the Liberal Democrats have formed a secret pact to inflict the hardest possible blow on Tories in Thursday’s local elections.In a letter to Sir Keir, Tory chairman Oliver Dowden today accused the Labour leader of standing down candidates in “swathes of the country” where Lib Dems were the main challenger to Conservatives, while Sir Ed’s party was returning the favour where Labour was dominant.For generations, the UK’s first-past-the-post electoral system has favoured Conservatives, who are generally able to stand as the sole major party of the right while the “progressive” side of politics is split between several candidates.Mr Dowden’s letter appears to reflect concern in Tory high command that traditional Conservative voters may be flirting with a vote for Lib Dems on Thursday, and an attempt to scare them off with a warning that this would benefit Labour.He said that Labour was standing candidates in just 61 per cent of seats in the Lib Dem heartland of the southwest, compared to 97 per cent in 2018, while Sir Ed’s party had candidates in 56 per cent of northeast wards, down from 78 per cent four years ago.And he said: “These shifts are far too substantial to be a mere coincidence … It now appears that your plans to deny the voters a proper democratic choice are coming to fruition.”But Sir Keir told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “There’s no pact. Everybody knows there’s no pact. We will put a candidate up [in Tiverton and Honiton] when there is a by-election after Neil Parish’s resignation yesterday.“I think – and I’ll happily have this checked out – that we are standing more Labour candidates in this election than we’ve ever stood.“We’re very… we’re out there. I’ve got teams working across the country, we’re positive, we’re laser focused on the cost-of-living crisis, and all you get from the government is mudslinging.“Why aren’t they talking about the issue that matters? People are worried about paying their bills. What’s the government got say about that? Absolutely nothing, except ‘We’re going to tax you in the middle of a cost of living crisis’.”Sir Ed told the programme: “There’s no pact now. There’s not going to be a pact in the future. Liberal Democrats are actually fighting Labour in many areas – in Hull, in Sunderland, in Sheffield, in Haringey, in Southwark, and many other places where there’s a real fight.“These council numbers I think are a bit of a distraction and pretty desperate from the Conservatives. They always fluctuate from election to election, and actually Conservatives are fielding over 100 fewer candidates this time.”Lib Dems have made no secret of the fact that they see their most fertile electoral territory in the so-called blue-wall seats in the leafy suburbs, rural seats and commuter belts where traditional Tory voters are uneasy with the direction of the party under Boris Johnson.Sir Ed said: “Lifelong Conservative voters feel they are being taken for granted. They’re really worried about the cost of living crisis, alarmed that the Conservative response is to increase taxes on them. And it looks like Boris Johnson doesn’t care and doesn’t have a plan.“Liberal Democrats are saying there should be a big tax cut for people and that is going down well. How that works out I’m not sure, but I do think we’ll make progress and I do think people are switching to the Liberal Democrats.”Conservatives fear that, even if there is no formal pact, they will come under pressure in upcoming by-elections in Wakefield – a must-win for Starmer if he is to show he can win back the Red Wall – and Tiverton & Honiton as the opposition party with the least chance of success runs a low-key campaign in order to give the other the best chance of beating the Tories. They claim this approach was evident in recent victories for Davey’s party in North Shropshire and for Labour in Batley & Spen.Despite Lib Dems coming third in Tiverton & Honiton in 2019, Davey made clear they are hopeful of repeating their North Shropshire upset in the by-election forced by Neil Parish’s resignation after watching pornography in the Commons chamber.“I believe the Liberal Democrats can be the real challengers, in that we have a real legacy of success across the southwest,” said Sir Ed. “In the North Shropshire by-election, we were third at the previous general election but we beat the Conservatives. No one gave us a chance but in those rural communities across North Shropshire we found lifelong Conservatives feel that they have been taken for granted.“In those rural communities, I think Liberal Democrats can make real real inroads and strides so I’m looking forward to that by-election.”Neal Lawson, director of cross-party “progressive” campaign group Compass, said that Mr Dowden was effectively accusing opposition parties of adopting the same tactic as Conservatives did in the 2019 general election, when Mr Johnson reached a deal for Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party to stand aside in favour of Tories in key seats.The result was to deliver a landslide victory for Tories to “get Brexit done” from an election in which a majority of Britons voted for parties which supported a second referendum on EU withdrawal.“Oliver Dowden is in danger of hypocrisy, as his party clearly had an election pact with the Brexit Party in 2019,” said Mr Lawson.“Progressive parties who share values are working together to stop first-past-the-post splitting their vote and letting Tories with fewer votes through.” More

Minister denies culture of misogyny in parliamentA minister has denied there is a culture of misogyny in parliament despite reports more than 50 MPs are facing allegations of sexual misconduct.Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng suggested the issue was people “working in a really intense enivronment” with “long hours”.Asked about reports 56 MPs are allegedly facing allegations of sexual misconduct that have been referred to the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, he said it was “extraordinary” but insisted he had “never seen any of it” in parliament.It comes following the resignation of Tory MP Neil Parish after he admitted watching pornography in the House of Commons in what he described as a “moment of madness”.The Tiverton and Honiton MP claimed he looked at adult material twice, the first time stumbling on a porn website while looking for tractors online, but returning deliberately on the second occasion.Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has called for “radical” reform to working practices in parliament, suggesting staff should no longer be employed by the parliamentarians they work for.Show latest update

1651415412Nicola Sturgeon ways she will not ‘shy away’ from dealing with misconduct in SNPNicola Sturgeon has said she will “not shy away” from dealing with issues of misconduct within her party.Appearing on Sky News, the first minister was asked about sexual misconduct allegations within her own party, as SNP MP Patrick Grady is investigated over claims he groped two male researchers.She said she did not know the status of the investigation, adding: “I’ve seen what has been reported, as I understand it the process is under way. I have not seen any findings.”Ms Sturgeon stressed she was not trying to “dodge” the issue and said the claims should be fully investigated.She added: “I’m not trying to dodge this. It’s important that the process is allowed to proceed.”When I do know whether … finally things have been upheld, I’m happy to come on and talk to you about that.”Chiara Giordano1 May 2022 15:301651414683PM’s ‘anti-woke’ agenda fuels sexism in parliament, says senior Labour womanBoris Johnson’s “anti-woke agenda” has helped fuel the rise in misogynistic behaviour in parliament, one of Labour’s most senior women MPs has said.Margaret Hodge’s comments came after the resignation of Tory MP Neil Parish for watching porn in the Commons chamber, and amid a flood of complaints about women at Westminster being groped, objectified and belittled because of their sex.Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has the full story:Chiara Giordano1 May 2022 15:181651412804‘Anti-woke culture driven from top’ allows sexual misbehaviour to be seen as norm, says veteran MPVeteran Labour MP Margaret Hodge has claimed an “anti-woke culture driven from the top” has allowed behaviour like that of a politician caught watching porn in the Commons chamber to be seen as the norm.Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend as 56 MPs reportedly face allegations of sexual misconduct, she said: “What’s it all about? I think it’s partly the MPs think of themselves as special and important and therefore it’s ok for them to behave like that and I also think it’s something about the culture led from the top.“We have had Boris Johnson sort of creating a culture where it’s OK to break the rules and we’ve got a sort of anti-woke culture being driven from the top.“Before I came on the programme, I looked at Liz Truss’s Twitter account – she hasn’t commented on this and yet she’s minister for women. She ought to have done and it’s sort of that anti-woke culture has also I think allowed this sort of behaviour to be seen as the norm.”Chiara Giordano1 May 2022 14:461651411155Greens still seek UK’s exit from Nato despite Ukraine war, says leaderThe Green Party would seek to move the UK out of Nato in the long-term once the conflict in Ukraine is over, its co-leader has said.Adrian Ramsay told Sky News he did not want to “change structures in the middle of a conflict”, but believes the UK should leave the military alliance in the future.Asked on Sky News whether the Greens’ position on Nato had changed as a result of the Ukraine conflict, Mr Ramsay confirmed it had not.He said: “We have a long-term policy about reviewing what structures we need to have to build peace in the world and we have to remember this conflict has happened at a time when we are part of Nato, when we are still seeing nuclear weapons dominate.”Of course we are not about changing structures in the middle of conflict and what we need to do at the moment is focus on how Ukraine can be supported in a wide variety of ways.”Mr Ramsay suggested the UK needs to focus on “peacekeeping and getting the parties to the table” as well as “stronger economic action”.Chiara Giordano1 May 2022 14:191651409754Sir Keir Starmer says he will not ‘hug any previous Labour leader’ in hi style of leadershipSir Keir Starmer has said he will not “hug any previous Labour leader” in his style of party leadership.But he did pay tribute to former prime minister Sir Tony Blair, who has endorsed Sir Keir in a campaign video ahead of the local elections.Asked by Sky News if he felt closer to the leadership of Sir Tony or Jeremy Corbyn, Sir Keir repeated a claim he made ahead of his election as Labour chief that he would not have “the name of some previous Labour leader tattooed on my forehead”.He added: “Let me just tell you what I said at the time, which was I am not going to hug any previous Labour leader because I don’t believe that you go backwards to go forward.”I will learn from any Labour leader, I will talk with any Labour leader and if it is Tony Blair who has won three elections, Gordon Brown who won it with them, then I will happily take their advice and talk with them.”Chiara Giordano1 May 2022 13:551651408614PPE storage costing taxpayers nearly £500k a day, claims LabourPPE storage is costing the taxpayer nearly half a million pounds a day, Labour has claimed, as the cost-of-living crisis begins to bite.The government has revealed that storage of personal protective equipment (PPE) related to Covid is estimated to be £3.3 million a week.Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner, who requested an estimate of the costs, has claimed this equates to £471,429 being spent every day on storing PPE.She said struggling families would be “outraged” to learn how much is being “frittered away” on PPE storage costs.Labour also claimed its analysis shows government “waste” on PPE over the course of the pandemic would be enough to save each household in the UK more than £310.The written question from Ms Rayner also revealed that £5.8 million of taxpayers’ money had been spent on PPE storage in China at the end of 2021.Chiara Giordano1 May 2022 13:361651407599Tensions over cost of living surface, as Kwarteng sets face against ‘arbitrary’ windfall tax on energy firmsCabinet divisions over the cost-of-living crisis have burst into the open, as business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng set his face firmly against an “arbitrary” windfall tax on energy firms just days after Rishi Sunak indicated he was ready to consider the move.Mr Kwarteng’s comments came as inflation and the cost of living emerged as the key issue for crunch local elections across Britain on Thursday, with opposition parties arguing that a windfall tax could help ease the burden of soaring gas and electricity bills on families.Andrew Woodcock has the full story:Chiara Giordano1 May 2022 13:191651406424Call to make watching porn in public place a criminal offenceWatching pornography in a public place should be made a criminal offence in the UK, the author of a keystone new report on misogyny told The Independent.Eminent barrister and peer Helena Kennedy said that had been a dramatic and alarming increase in recent years in men viewing hardcore porn on trains or buses when seated next to women they do not know or showing women graphic pictures in workplaces, pubs and clubs, apparently getting a thrill from the discomfort and distress they cause.More on this from our political editor Andrew Woodcock:Chiara Giordano1 May 2022 13:001651405524Business secretary unclear on ‘emergency budget’ to tackle cost-of-living crisisBusiness secretary Kwasi Kwarteng suggested there will not be an “emergency budget” to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, before walking back the comments.He told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “There won’t be an emergency budget…”Questioned further, he said: “I’m not ruling out, it’s not in my power to do that.”You know as well as I do, and many of your viewers, that budgets are for the Chancellor. All I’m saying is that there’s been considerable amount of support already.”Chiara Giordano1 May 2022 12:451651404624Cabinet rift appears over prospect of windfall tax on oil and gas profitsBusiness secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has voiced firm opposition to a windfall tax on oil and gas companies despite Chancellor Rishi Sunak raising the possibility.The cabinet minister was adamant it would be a “disincentive” to investment by energy giants despite his colleague in the Treasury using the threat to encourage spending, as their profits soar along with customers’ bills.But Mr Kwarteng did not rule out that the move, long called for by Labour, is being considered by the Government as a measure to alleviate the cost-of-living crisis.He told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “I’ve never been a supporter of windfall taxes – I’ve been very clear about that publicly. I think they discourage investment.”And he said on the BBC’s Sunday Morning show “it doesn’t make much sense to me to then hit them (energy firms) with a windfall tax which is arbitrary and unexpected”.Chiara Giordano1 May 2022 12:30 More

Boris Johnson’s position as prime minister is safe regardless of how Conservatives do in Thursday’s local election, a key cabinet ally has claimed.Business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng admitted that the ballots, taking place across the UK, will be “challenging” for Tories, but insisted: “I don’t think his leadership is under threat at all.”He brushed off reports that former health secretary Jeremy Hunt, who finished second to Johnson in the last leadership election, is preparing a bid to oust him.Mr Kwarteng’s comments come after a Savanta poll for The Independent showed Tories trailing six points behind Labour, with more than a quarter (27 per cent) of those who voted Conservative in 2019 are less likely to do so again if Johnson remains as leader.Speculation over an immediate challenge to Mr Johnson’s leadership is ebbing away, as many Tory MPs indicate they will hold back on submitting letters of no confidence until the conclusion of the police’s investigation of lockdown-breaking parties at No 10 and civil servant Sue Gray’s Partygate report.However it is expected that a bloodbath for Tories on Thursday will prompt more letters to 1922 Committee chair Sir Graham Brady, who must order a contest if he receives requests from 54 Tory MPs.But Mr Kwarteng told Sky News’s Sunday with Sophy Ridge: “I don’t think his leadership is at threat at all. I mean, what he’s delivered is really a remarkable series of successes. Brexit – he delivered on that. He was very widely appreciated in Ukraine and has been widely held as someone who’s led the overseas effort to help Ukraine. Also, look at the vaccine rollout, which was again a great success.”Asked whether this meant Mr Johnson’s position was safe no matter what the results are no Thursday, Mr Kwarteng replied: “Absolutely.” Responding to reports in the Mail on Sunday that Mr Hunt is preparing a challenge, Mr Kwarteng said: “Jeremy is a very capable colleague. He’s a good friend. I don’t know what he’s up to. But as far as I’m concerned, Boris Johnson is the right man by far to lead us into the next election.”Electoral arithmetic means that fewer seats than usual may change hands on Thursday, but analysts believe that shedding more than around 350 councillors would be a bad result and 800 catastrophic for Mr Johnson. More

The chair of Westminster’s standards committee has said he was “touched up” by male MPs when he arrived in the House of Commons as a young gay man.Labour’s Chris Bryant told LBC radio that he never reported the incidents because he did not want to be “part of the story”, but would do so if it happened now.Mr Bryant’s claims come amid a rash of allegations of harassment and abuse of women in parliament.Cabinet minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan has said she was pushed up against a wall by a male MP when visiting as a volunteer before she was herself elected. And there have been reports of female staff members being groped in Commons bars and MPs being subjected to misogynistic nicknames.Rhondda MP Mr Bryant, 60, who entered parliament in 2001 and is now chair of the Commons Standards Committee, told LBC: “I remember when I came in I was regularly touched up by older, senior gay – they weren’t out – MPs.”I never felt I was able to report it because you end up being part of the story, that’s the last thing you want.”I think a lot of women have been through that.”He added: “I can think of four MPs… I was shocked at the time… none of them are out of course. I think that I now if anybody would do that I would be absolutely robust.”I would a call the person out immediately and I would make a complaint.” More

MPs must not hide behind excuses about long hours and work pressure as an explanation for misogyny and misbehaviour in Westminster, Keir Starmer has said.His comments came as cabinet minister Kwasi Kwarteng insisted that parliament was a safe place for women to work, saying that problems were limited to a few “bad apples” who cross the line in what is a “really intense” workplace.The Labour leader welcomed the resignation of Tory MP Neil Parish, who quit on Saturday after being spotted watching pornography on his phone in the Commons chamber.But he said that parliament needed a “culture change… led from and modelled from the top.”Sir Keir was speaking amid fresh allegations of misbehaviour in the Commons, with reports of incidents such as MPs licking researchers’ faces. More than 50 MPs are said to be under investigation by parliament’s complaints procedure over sexual harassment.The Labour leader told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday: “There’s a cultural issue we have to get to grips with and culture change has to be led from and modelled from the top.”The government had shown repeatedly that, when a Tory colleague gets into trouble, ministers’ “first instinct is to push it off into the long grass, hide what’s happening,” said Sir Keir.And he added: “That’s a political problem because the fish rots from the head…“I’ve dealt with cultural change before – I had to do this within the Crown Prosecution Service. I learned that it has to be led from a model from the top.“You look to the political leadership, see what approach they’re taking. And without that, I think it’s very difficult to bring about change.”Mr Kwarteng denied there was a general culture of sexism in Westminster, but said that the pressures of the job drove some MPs to step over the line.“I don’t think there’s a culture of misogyny,” Mr Kwarteng told Sophy Ridge.“I think the problem we have is that people are working in a really intense environment. There are long hours. I think, generally, most people know their limits. They know how to act respectfully, but there are some instances where people don’t frankly act according to the highest standards.”But Sir Keir said that this view was challenged by female MPs with whom he had discussed the issue over the past few days.“We can’t run this argument about this `high pressure culture’,” he said. “Take responsibility.“Neil Parish chose to watch porn in parliament. Tory MPs chose to make disparaging comments about Angela Rayner. They’ve got to take responsibility.”Mr Kwarteng insisted that parliament is a safe place for women to work despite a few “bad apples”.He told the BBC’s Sunday Morning show: “I think it is. I think we’ve got to distinguish between some bad apples, people who behave badly, and the general environment.“There are some bad apples, there are people who have acted very badly, and they should be held to account.”He said it would be “excessively puritanical” to shut down parliament’s bars in the hope of ending sexual misconduct and sleaze.The business secretary told Ridge: “No, they shouldn’t all be shut, I don’t think we should have an excessively puritanical severe regime in that regard.”Mr Kwarteng also did not back all-women shortlists for parliamentary candidates, saying: “I’ve never been a fan of quotas but I think we should do all we can to encourage more women to come into politics and from diverse backgrounds.”He said that the complaints system set up in 2018 following the Pestminster scandal “needs time to really get going”, but said it was clear that currently it ”isn’t working sufficiently well”. More

Cabinet divisions over the cost-of-living crisis have burst into the open, as business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng set his face firmly against an “arbitrary” windfall tax on energy firms just days after Rishi Sunak indicated he was ready to consider the move.Mr Kwarteng’s comments came as inflation and the cost of living emerged as the key issue for crunch local elections across Britain on Thursday, with opposition parties arguing that a windfall tax could help ease the burden of soaring gas and electricity bills on families.Liberal Democrats today issued a demand for an emergency tax cut in the 10 May Queen’s Speech, cutting £600 a year from the tax burden on the average family by cutting the main rate of VAT from 20 to 17.5 per cent for the next 12 months.Meanwhile, Asda boss Stuart Rose said that the government and Bank of England had been “slow” in recognising the threat from inflation and taking action to counter it.Lord Rose said that supermarkets were facing a “new level of costs” because of factors like the war in Ukraine – which produces a large share of the world’s vegetable oil and feed for chickens – and the near-shutdown of areas of China impacted by Covid, and said there was more the government could do to “cut out every extra cost” by streamlining regulations.It was clear that increased prices “won’t go down” over the coming years, Lord Rose told BBC1’s Sunday Morning, adding: ““What we are now going to have to think about is, is that going to have a long-term effect on inflation – because then will we have a wage spiral – or won’t we?“The converse side of that is we could end up, if we have no growth in the business, having stagflation. They are both evil and the government has got a very difficult and tricky road to navigate.”Mr Kwarteng dismissed calls for an emergency budget to implement a new package of immediate help for struggling families – though he stressed that the decision was for Mr Sunak to take.The chancellor last week signalled support for a windfall tax on energy firms if they failed to use their profits – hugely inflated by the current high price of oil and gas – for the benefit of the UK.“If companies aren’t going to make investments in our energy security, of course that’s something I’d look at,” he told the Mumsnet website.But Mr Kwarteng – who has written to the companies urging them to reinvest profits in the UK economy – today set his face firmly against a tax.“I’ve never been a supporter of windfall taxes,” he told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday. “I’ve been very clear about that publicly. I think they discourage investment.”And he later told the Sunday Morning programme: “We want to encourage investment in the North Sea, we want to have domestic sources of supply, and if you are asking a company to invest in North Sea gas, which we need for new technologies as well, it doesn’t make much sense to me to then hit them with a windfall tax which is arbitrary and unexpected.“I don’t think that is the right way.”However he acknowledged that he could not rule out the chancellor opting for a windfall tax as he comes under growing pressure to help families increasingly struggling to cope with power bills.“He has to have a much wider view of the entire economy,” said Mr Kwarteng. “Every chancellor that I can remember has always said every option is on the table. That’s a reasonable thing for a chancellor to say.“He and I talk about these things all the time, he’s always been a pro-investment conservative. I’m not ruling out what the chancellor is or isn’t going to do in an October budget – that isn’t my job. As he said, he’s responsible for the budget and he’s going to look at all the options.”Labour leader Keir Starmer said that a one-off tax on oil and gas “super profits” could deliver an immediate £600 reduction in average annual energy bills.“We are not talking about taxing the profits they expected to make,” Sir Keir told Sky News. “This is the profits they didn’t expect to make.“I tell you this – £600 help with energy bills for those that need it will be desperately needed and welcomed across the country.”Sir Keir said the cost of living has been the “number one issue” on the doorstep while campaigning for the local elections, adding that the Conservatives have said “absolutely nothing” about it.Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said that the spike in prices meant the Treasury was forecast to take in £39bn more in VAT over the coming four years than had been predicted last year.He urged Mr Sunak to put £600 into ordinary families’ pockets by cutting the rate of the purchase tax in “a cost-of-living Queen’s Speech”.“Rishi Sunak is raking in billions in extra tax because of soaring prices,” said the Lib Dem leader. “He could cut people’s taxes at the stroke of a pen, so there is no excuse for him not to act.“People are facing a cost-of-living emergency, and they need an emergency tax cut now.” More