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Rishi Sunak is facing questions about his role in the Greensill lobbying affair. But just what is it?This week the Financial Times reported that specialist bank Greensill Capital had lobbied the Treasury to include the firm in state-backed emergency Covid loan schemes.Under these schemes, the Treasury underwrote loans issued by banks to help businesses facing disruption due to the pandemic. More
It has long been a political convention across democracies that when someone lies to Parliament, they have to resign their position. That’s about as clear as it gets, however. In the case of whether Nicola Sturgeon lied to the Scottish parliament about the Salmond affair, there is also now the question of who decides and what the exact test is for “misleading” Is it the committee of MSPs who will report imminently, and whose proceedings have been leaked. Or is it the independent QC specially charged by Ms Sturgeon herself with answering the question. And if she did lie or mislead the Scottish Parliament and thus the Scottish people did she do so “knowingly” or deliberately. How can one tell? And how important do they – Parliament and people – think any of this is, anyway? There are no protest marches or riots in the streets calling for Sturgeon to go – quite the opposite, with many unable to follow the technical, procedural lawyerly wrangling. Covid and Brexit feel like bigger deals. For what it’s worth, here are the relevant stentorian passages in section 1.3 of the Scottish Ministerial Code: “It is of paramount importance that Ministers give accurate and truthful information to the Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity. Ministers who knowingly mislead the Parliament will be expected to offer their resignation to the First Minister; More
The prime minister’s former adviser, Dominic Cummings, admires original thinking, despises needless bureaucracy and has a reputation for unpredictability, of which there was a great deal on display in his testimony to the Commons Science and Technology Select Committee. It gave the MPs and the viewing public alike a rare insight into life in Downing Street in the Cummings era. The biggest surprise was that Cummings turned up at all. He remains in contempt of parliament for refusing to attend a previous select committee hearing two years ago. That was about the Vote Leave referendum campaign that Cummings had run. Cummings was arrogant enough to demand that MPs swear an oath, if that was what he was required to do. A good deal has changed since then, and Cummings was charm itself as he dilated on some of his favourite topics and explained the thinking behind the new Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria). This will be Cummings’s “other legacy”, aside from his lockdown busting last summer and his summary dismissal before Christmas. More
One of the things that is supposed to say something about the democratic nature of Britain is the principal residence it provides for its head of government. By comparison with Buckingham Palace, the Elysee Palace, the Kremlin, or the White House, say, 10 Downing Street presents a modest appearance to the world. No more or less than any other terraced council house, in fact with rather more security of tenure, it’s a leasehold rather than a freehold property, albeit with a famous address and permanent security. When the electorate, acting as landlord, decide your time is up, you are out. The traditional images of the removal van pulling up outside after a general election is one of the more powerful symbols of the peaceful transition of power, even though one or two occupants have tried to squat a little behind their time.The residence also reminds us that a British prime minister works under a parliamentary system, and is not president or head of state. But is Boris Johnson getting presidential pretensions? First there was the expensive makeover by first fiancee Carrie Symonds, so costly indeed that it had to be funded privately. Some £200,000, roughly the value of the average British home, may be expended on essentially cosmetic improvements. Now there is a plan to construct a “White House-style” bunker under the 17th-century structure, if it can sustain it, at a cost to taxpayers of £9m, though a bunker dating back to the Cold War already exists under Whitehall. But most portentous, because of its implications for the workings of politics, is the new £2.6m Downing Street press briefing room. It’s all decked out in a suspiciously Conservative shade of royal blue, four Union flags naturally appropriated again for presumed party political “messaging”.Closely modelled on the familiar White House set up, the intention seems to be that the prime minister’s spokesperson, Allegra Stratton, rather than the prime minister himself, will take questions from “lobby” journalists, ie the squad of political writers officially accredited to the Palace of Westminster, with access, privileges and status to match. This will be a considerable novelty. Prime ministers sometimes attend press conferences, most notably during the Covid briefings, and perform in public. Press secretaries are heard but not seen, their words over the years sometimes attributable by name, sometimes to the job title, anonymously, or via various barely veiled code such as “sources close to”. When press secretaries become “the story”, as with Alastair Campbell, Damian McBride and Andy Coulson, they have to quit. Giving a special adviser or official such a high-profile role is entirely new to the British system, and arguably unconstitutional. The question may well be asked as to why the prime minister doesn’t answer the questions himself. More
Brexit, like so many divorces, is turning nasty. Well, nastier, given that the bickering broke out almost immediately after the 2016 referendum and the atmosphere has, with rare outbreaks of goodwill, generally grown more acrimonious in the tumultuous years that followed. Brexit may or may not be “done”, in the sense that the UK has moved out of the marital home; but it is far from over. Now the lawyers are getting involved – never a good sign.As widely expected, the EU has served notice on the UK that it will be taking it to court. The EU views the UK decision to unilaterally extend the grace period for the Northern Ireland protocol as an infringement of an international agreement. The British say it is proportionate, in good faith and to make sure things are balanced across the Irish Sea, now the subject of an economic border. It is not a robust defence in legal terms, though it may have political force. More
Governments of whatever party seem to come up with a new “law and order” bill almost every year, and these often turn into great caravans of minor legal changes, many of which are uncontroversial. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which will be debated by MPs on Monday and Tuesday, is the latest of its kind – and it has suddenly become intensely topical because of the debate over the policing of the vigil for Sarah Everard on Saturday.The bill was originally intended to fulfil the promise in the 2019 Conservative manifesto to “back our police”, by increasing sentences for assaulting workers in the emergency services and by introducing “tougher sentencing for the worst offenders and [ending] automatic halfway release from prison for serious crimes”.But it also gave Priti Patel, the home secretary, and Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, the chance to legislate for changes to police powers that Cressida Dick, the Met Police commissioner, had asked for after the Extinction Rebellion protests in April 2019. Dick said her officers needed new powers “specifically to deal with protests where people are not primarily violent or seriously disorderly but, as in this instance, had an avowed intent to bring policing to its knees and the city to a halt”. More
Revealing the results of one of the world’s largest ever surveys of LGBT+ people almost three years ago, the British government laid out some stark – albeit unsurprising – findings: two-thirds of respondents said they had avoided holding their partner’s hand in public for fear of negative reaction. An even greater number said they had avoided being open about their sexuality for similar reasons.Insisting the government had a “proud record in advancing equality”, Theresa May’s administration responded with a widely publicised action plan detailing 75 commitments to “improve the lives” of LGBT+ people across the country. More
British exports to the EU plunged by more than 40 per cent in January – the first month since the Brexit transition period ended.It was the biggest monthly decline in 20 years, and imports from the EU also fell by a significant amount – around 29 per cent. The government has said to be careful interpreting the numbers. Brexit minister Lord Frost, who negotiated the deal, said a “unique combination of factors made it inevitable that we would see some unusual figures”. More
