, Labour’s Shadow
Paymaster General in the Cabinet Office Urgent Question speech on
the resignation of , the Independent Adviser on
Minister’s Interests.
"Thank you, Mr Speaker.
I welcome that this letter will be coming. It’s taken asking an
Urgent Question to get it.
So I’m very glad we’ve been able to ask this Urgent
Question.
But clearly the new arrangements for the independent
adviser are not workable.
And that’s why he’s had to resign.
Mr Speaker, to lose one ethics adviser is an embarrassment.
But to lose a second, just days after the Prime Minister's own
anti-corruption tsar walked out on him, well it’s becoming a bit
of a pattern Mr Speaker.
A pattern of degrading the principles of our democracy.
The Prime Minister has now driven both of his own hand-picked
ethics advisers to resign in despair.
Two in two years.
It’s a badge of shame for this Government.
Mr Speaker,
In an unprecedented move, the Cabinet Office had failed to
publish Lord Geidt’s resignation letter.
It has taken this Urgent Question to get it.
described resignation as a
“last resort” to send “a critical signal into the public domain.”
Can the Minister confirm if ongoing investigations, launched by
, will now be dropped?
For example, how will the shameful allegations of Islamophobia
experienced by the Hon Member for Wealden now be investigated?
Yesterday No10 stated that had been asked to give advice
on a commercially sensitive matter in the national interest. What
is this?
Can the Minister confirm whether this relates to a direct or
indirect financial interest of the Prime Minister, a family
member, friend or donor?
When will a replacement be appointed, and can he assure us there
won’t be another five month gap although it will be a hard
position to recruit for, because it’s been shown to be an
unworkable position.
This Prime Minister has ridden roughshod over the rules.
What next?
This vacancy must not only be filled, but the role urgently
reformed as the Committee on Standards in Public Life
concluded.
Honesty matters. Integrity matters. Decency matters.
So I hope the Minister will do the right thing and come clean
about this resignation."
