No 10 criticises Dorries for delaying her resignation, saying her constituents deserve ‘proper representation’No 10 has criticised Nadine Dorries for delaying her resignation. (See 11.19am.) At the post-PMQs lobby briefing, asked about Dorries not yet formally resigning her seat, Rishi Sunak’s press secretary said:
It’s obviously unusual to have an MP say they will resign with immediate effect and for that not to take place. The prime minister believes the people of Mid Bedfordshire deserve proper representation in this house and he looks forward to campaigning for the Conservative candidate in the byelection.
Asked if that meant Dorries’ constituents were not currently being served properly, the spokesperson said:
The prime minister believes that it’s important that they have certainty.
Key events
Boris Johnson suggests Bernard Jenkin may have to quit privileges committee over alleged lockdown drinksBoris Johnson has launched a fierce attack on the Tory MP Sir Bernard Jenkin, who sits on the Commons privileges committee, following a claim that Jenkin attended an event where birthday drinks were served.
The story first appeared on Guido Fawkes, a Westminster gossip blog that in the past has published a lot of material favourable to Johnson. It claims that on 8 December 2020 Jenkin attended an event in the office of Dame Eleanor Laing, the deputy speaker, where drinks were served to mark the birthday of Jenkin’s wife, Ann (a Tory peer, and a friend of Laing’s). At the time meetings were only allowed for work purposes.
Bernard Jenkin told the website he did not attend any drinks party during lockdown. Asked specifically if he had a drink at the 8 December event, he said he could not remember.
But Johnson has issued a statement challenging Jenkin to clarify what happened, and implying that he may be a hypocrite. He said:
If this is true it is outrageous and a total contempt of parliament.
Bernard Jenkin has just voted to expel me from parliament for allegedly trying to conceal from parliament my knowledge of illicit events.
In reality of course I did no such thing.
Now it turns out he may have for the whole time known that he himself attended an event – and concealed this from the privileges committee and the whole House for the last year.
To borrow the language of the committee, if this is the case, he “must have known” he was in breach of the rules
Why didn’t he say so?
He has no choice but to explain his actions to his own committee, for his colleagues to investigate and then to resign.
Jenkin has been contacted for a comment.
The privileges committee report into Johnson is out tomorrow. But it is not primarily about Johnson breaking lockdown rules; it is about the claims that he misled MPs when he answered questions about Partygate in the Commons.
Liberty launches legal action against Braverman over law limiting right to protest passed as secondary legislationLiberty, the human rights group, has announced that it will mount a legal challenge against controversial new protest laws that come into force tomorrow.
It is taking Suella Braverman, the home secretary, to judicial review, arguing that in implementing the “serious disruption” regulations she has exceeded her powers.
The Public Order Act 1986 (Serious Disruption to the Life of the Community) Regulations have been widely criticised by civil liberty campaigners and others because they will make it easier for the police to stop and arrest people holding peaceful protests. That is because they lower the threshold for what counts as “serious disruption” under the Public Order Act.
In a move that is specifically designed to target Just Stop Oil, and its slow-walking protests used to hold up traffic, the regulations also allow the police to take into account the cumulative impact of protests, not just the disruption caused by a single incident.
The regulations are particularly controversial because Braverman originally tried to include them in the Public Order Act 2023. But her amendments were voted down in the Lords, and could not be reinserted in the Commons because they were introduced late, and so Braverman is implementing them in the form of secondary legislation.
Secondary legislation receives less scrutiny than primary legislation, it cannot be amended and it is very hard to block. A Lords committee said it could not find any precedent for a government using secondary legislation to introduce a measure only recently blocked by parliament in primary legislation.
This is one of the main arguments used by Liberty in its judicial review.
In a statement, Katy Watts, a lawyer for Liberty, said:
The home secretary has sidelined parliament to sneak in new legislation via the back door, despite not having the powers to do so.
This has been done deliberately in a way which enables the government to circumvent parliament – who voted these same proposals down just a few months ago – and is a flagrant breach of the separation of powers that exist in our constitution.
This is yet another power grab from the government, as well as the latest in a long line of attacks on our right to protest, making it harder for the public to stand up for what they believe in.
The wording of the government’s new law is so vague that anything deemed ‘more than a minor’ disturbance could have restrictions imposed upon it.
In essence, this gives the police almost unlimited powers to stop any protest the government doesn’t agree with …
We’ve launched this legal action to ensure this overreach is checked and that the government is not allowed to put itself above the law to do whatever it wants. It’s really important that the government respects the law and that today’s decision is reversed immediately.
The text of Liberty’s pre-action letter to the home secretary is here.
The Commons privileges committee report into claims Boris Johnson misled MPs about Partygate is due at 9am tomorrow, and will run to 30,000 words, according to the Times’ Steven Swinford.
Breaking:
The Privileges Committee report is… big
Told it comes in at nearly 30,000 words, with extensive annexes detailing evidence
Boris Johnson’s latest response will be appended to the document with a response from the committee
It’s expected to drop at 9am tomorrow
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) June 14, 2023 This is from ITV’s Robert Peston on Rishi Sunak boasting at PMQs about deliving the fastest wage growth in years.
“We are delivering…the fastest wage growth in years” says Rishi Sunak in #PMQs. It is an extraordinary boast, for a few reasons. 1) that wage growth is a big reason why interest rates are still rising, why the Bank of England will next week increase interest rates again, and why…
— Robert Peston (@Peston) June 14, 2023 Aslef train drivers vote to continue strike action over next six monthsTrain drivers have voted overwhelmingly to continue taking strike action for the next six months in their long-running pay dispute, PA Media reports. PA says:
Aslef said a re-ballot of its members showed they are “in it for the long haul”.
Unions involved in industrial disputes have to hold a fresh ballot every six months to ask their members if they want to continue taking action.
Aslef balloted 12,500 of its members at 15 train operators, with most voting by more than 90% in favour of continuing with strikes and other forms of industrial action.
Commenting on the result, Mick Whelan, the Aslef general secretary, said:
Once again our members have decided that we are in this for the long haul.
Train drivers are sick to the back teeth of their employers and the government failing to negotiate in good faith, and blaming drivers for their inability to manage services and the rail industry effectively.
The Conservative MP Aaron Bell has criticised Nadine Dorries for delaying her decision to resign. Speaking on the World at One, Bell also implied that she had been neglecting her parliamentary duties since she started a job as a TalkTV host earlier this year.
Asked about Dorries not formally resigning as an MP, even though she said on Friday she would be doing so “with immediate effect”, Bell said:
I don’t know what Nadine’s doing to be honest. I think it would be good for her constituency in Mid Bedfordshire … if they could have proper representation, because Nadine’s barely been seen in parliament these last six months while she’s been earning money on telly.
Bell also said that the party was now “united behind Rishi Sunak” and that the row about Johnson’s honours list was over. He said:
Actually this is over now. Boris Johnson is no longer a member of parliament. The vast, vast majority of the parliamentary party are completely united behind Rishi Sunak.
Privileges committee signs off Boris Johnson Partygate reportThe long-awaited report that will find Boris Johnson misled parliament over Partygate has been signed off by the privileges committee, marking the end of a year-long inquiry that saw him quit the Commons in fury at its findings, Aubrey Allegretti reports. He says:
Seven MPs on the cross-party group, which has a Tory majority and Labour chair, held multiple meetings on Tuesday and endorsed the report at around 7pm, the Guardian has been told.
A damning assessment of Johnson’s promise that no Covid rules were broken and claims he was repeatedly assured the gatherings were within the rules is on course to be published on Thursday morning.
Johnson cannot be suspended from parliament – a punishment he was likely to face – because he announced he was stepping down last Friday and formally left the Commons on Monday.
However, the privileges committee is keen to ensure he does not get away scot-free. It is likely to recommend that he be blocked from being given the pass offered to most former MPs granting him privileged access to the Westminster estate.
Here is the full story.
No 10 criticises Dorries for delaying her resignation, saying her constituents deserve ‘proper representation’No 10 has criticised Nadine Dorries for delaying her resignation. (See 11.19am.) At the post-PMQs lobby briefing, asked about Dorries not yet formally resigning her seat, Rishi Sunak’s press secretary said:
It’s obviously unusual to have an MP say they will resign with immediate effect and for that not to take place. The prime minister believes the people of Mid Bedfordshire deserve proper representation in this house and he looks forward to campaigning for the Conservative candidate in the byelection.
Asked if that meant Dorries’ constituents were not currently being served properly, the spokesperson said:
The prime minister believes that it’s important that they have certainty.
PMQs – snap verdictRishi Sunak had quite a torrid PMQs. And the opposition leader was terrific. But that opposition leader was the SNP’s Stephen Flynn. Keir Starmer was less impressive today, and his performance can be chalked up as an example of when the commentariat assumes there is an open goal, the ball often doesn’t make it to the back of the net.
It did when Flynn gave it a punt. Here is is opening question.
During his ill-fated leadership bid late last summer, the prime minister warned of the perils of mortgage rate rises, indeed he stated, and I quote: ‘It’s going to tip millions of people into misery and it’s going to mean we have absolutely no chance of winning the next election.’ Given that mortgage rates continue to rise, does he still agree with his own electoral analysis?
“Which is absolutely why our economic policy sets as our number one priority to reduce inflation,” Sunak said, as he started his reply, but he was about as discomforted as he ever gets by the question, and he ended his first response with a feeble non-sequitur about SNP MSPs sending Nicola Sturgeon flowers.
There were at least two other questions that left Sunak metaphorically winded. They were from the Labour MPs Lyn Brown (see 12.03pm) and Taiwo Owatemi (see 12.25pm). But the Starmer script did not seem to unfold quite so well. Colleagues who were sitting in the chamber say Sunak was getting less support from his MPs today than he normally does. (On TV it is harder to judge, because television does not give an accurate presentation of noise levels at PMQs, which can be deafening.) On screen, though, Sunak may have come over better. It felt as if he managed to fend off Starmer.
Starmer opened with a question echoing the case made by Wes Streeting on his broadcast round this morning; that the country is in a mess because the Tories are just squabbling over peerages. (See 9.25am.) Although logically flawed (perhaps the country is just in a mess because the government is hopeless, even the most competent administration in history might have had a row about honours), this fits with what many or most people think, and for a quick hit, it might have worked.
But Starmer persisted, asking Sunak to explain why he did not just veto Boris Johnson’s honours list, and challenging him to commit to blocking Liz Truss’s. This was probably the highlight of his six questions.
It’s not just Johnson – the prime minister’s immediate predecessor is hoping to reward those who made her reign such a rip-roaring success. On her honours list are the masterminds of that kamikaze budget – the economic extremists of the Institute of Economic Affairs, those whose disastrous ideas crashed the economy and left the country to pick up the pieces. Will the prime minister block that honours list or will he buckle to her as well?
To Guardian readers, and many others, the Johnson honours list was an absolute shocker, and Starmer was absolutely right to say that it should have been scrapped. But as Labour leader Starmer has approved new peerages himself (he is committed to abolishing the Lords, but many in the party assume that will never happen), and Sunak had a reasonable comeback, saying (correctly) that he just acted in line with convention, and highlighting the fact that Starmer approved the controversial peerage for Tom Watson.
The honours row is a Westminster process story. Sunak, understandably, was keen to move on, and he attacked Labour over policy in answers that did not sound like the usual attempt to change the subject because Starmer was talking about the government’s economic record. In response to the jibe about the Liz Truss budget, Sunak said:
If you want disastrous economic ideas all you have to do is [look at] Labour’s economic policy on energy. It’s an energy policy that seeks to ban all new British oil and gas drilling, jeopardising 200,000 jobs and our energy security at a time of international conflict. Despots like Putin are the only people who will welcome such a policy. His predecessor once said he wanted British jobs for British workers – his policy is British jobs for Russian workers.
This won’t necessarily pass a fact check test (Russia is subject to sanctions, and the Labour policy is all about replacing North Sea oil with UK renewables, not Siberian gas), but for the purposes of PMQs knock-about it was perfectly adequate.
The highlight of PMQs, and probably the only point people will remember by next week, was Philip Davies dancing on the political grave of Boris Johnson. (See 12.35pm.) This is significant because it shows just how diminished Johnson now is. Even to his own side, he has become laughing stock.
Sunak says the Conservatives are delivering for voters in Uxbridge, whether it is opposing Ulez, or keeping police stations open.
And that is it. PMQs over
Philip Davies also said Sunak had left behind an “idiotic” proposal to ban buy one, get one free offers for junk food. That is wrong, particularly when there is a cost of living crisis. Will the government scrap this?
Sunak says the introduction of this policy has been postponed. No final decisions have been made, he says.
Tory MP Philip Davies mocks Boris Johnson over his complaints about the government not implementing Conservative policiesPhilip Davies (Con) uses his question to have a go at Boris Johnson. He says Johnson has complained about the government not being Conservative enough. If only Johnson had had a majority of 80 and been in a position to do something about it, he says.
One of the socialist landmines the prime minister has inherited from the former member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip [Boris Johnson] – I’m sure the prime minister remembers him, he’s the one who said that we should be more conservative – if only he had had a majority of 80 and been prime minister he might have been able to do something about it.
This is from the i’s Paul Waugh.
Labour MPs shout ‘more!’ as Tory MP Philip Davies throws serious shade at @BorisJohnson’s lack of Conservatism.@RishiSunak laughs as Davies says Johnson had a majority of 80 and wasted it.#PMQs
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) June 14, 2023Claire Hanna (SDLP) says Northern Ireland is one of the most dangerous places for women. The absence of an executive does not help. Will the government help encourage moves to protect women there?
Sunak says services would operate better if the executive were running.