, Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, asking an Urgent
Question on the enforcement of the ministerial code and publication
of the register of ministers’ interests, said:
“Mr Speaker, the Ministerial Code is clear there must be “no
misuse of taxpayer money” nor “actual or perceived conflicts of
interest”.
“But time and again Ministers act like rules are for other
people.
“None more so than the Prime Minister himself.
“Last year, he declared £15,000 from a Tory donor for his sleazy
jet trip to a private island.
“This weekend, we read that the real cost was double that and
paid by someone else entirely.
“People may ask why this is important, Mr Speaker. It is
important because it goes to the very heart of our democracy.
“Who does our government answer to?
“The public, or private interests?
“We only learnt from the media that the Prime Minister has
blocked publication of the independent Commissioner’s report.
“Can she now tell us why the delay?
“Does she accept the rules apply to everyone, even the Prime
Minister?
“Will he accept the Commissioner’s findings?
“The List of Ministers’ Interests is also mysteriously delayed, I
assume while the Prime Minister tries to remember who paid for
his flat.
“Will it be published by the end of this month?
“And does she accept that if the Prime Minister can block the
Independent Adviser from investigating, he can’t in practice then
be fully independent?
“Because the Code clearly isn’t preventing “actual or perceived
conflicts of interest”, is it?
“When the Home Secretary lobbies on behalf of a former adviser
flogging sub-standard face masks, who lands a
hundred-million-pound contract, without tender and at double the
going rate, who cannot perceive this as a conflict?
“Something we know not from the Home Secretary declaring it but
because it was revealed in an admin error.
“Then there is the Health Secretary, who appears to have ordered
an official to recommend a bid he hadn’t even read, from a former
Tory MP, who pocketed another two hundred million pounds of
taxpayers’ cash.
“Surely the Independent Adviser must investigate these cases with
no Prime Ministerial veto?
“Finally, there is the Prime Minister’s own top adviser, Lord
Lister.
“He concealed being paid by a luxury developer, owned by yet
another Tory donor, which was granted a record-breaking
taxpayer-backed loan by the very public body Lister chaired.
“Money meant for affordable homes but given out at mate’s rates
for luxury flats and private profit.
“Will they release the loan agreement along with all
correspondence on this decision,
and hand it to an independent investigation?
“And when will they publish their report on all officials’ second
jobs?
“When ministers and advisers use the public purse as a personal
cashpoint, the public has a right to know.”
