Business of the House

Debate between Alan Campbell and David Davis

Thursday 23rd April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I thank my hon. Friend for his work on these matters, including as a Minister and shadow Minister. He brings valuable insight. I cannot give him a commitment on the fund, but I believe that we need to go further on these issues. As the Government have made clear, communities should, wherever possible, be put in the driving seat in terms of not only their resources and the decisions they have to make, but the assets at their disposal.

[David Davis (Goole and Pocklington) (Con)]

St George’s day is certainly a day to celebrate patriotism. This morning, The Daily Telegraph reported that the Attorney General, when he was in private practice, voluntarily gave advice on the pursuit of British soldiers over alleged war crimes—allegations that turned out to be bogus. The article says that he realised those claims could be bogus early on in the process. That brings into question his impartiality in advising the Government on matters of human rights law as they apply to soldiers. He should therefore recuse himself from giving advice on those matters generally, but especially on the Northern Ireland legislation, which as it stands will victimise more British soldiers. Can we have a debate on Government legal advice and the shameful misuse of human rights law in pursuit of our soldiers?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

As I said in announcing the business, there may be an opportunity before the end of this Session to return to the question of the legacy Bill. There will certainly be an opportunity as soon as we come back to return to it. The right hon. Gentleman may wish to make those remarks during those debates. Knowing the Attorney General as I do, I am sure that he approaches these questions in an absolutely correct way. Should a situation arise where he feels that he should recuse himself, I have absolute faith that he would make the right judgment.

Business of the House

Debate between Alan Campbell and David Davis

Thursday 26th March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question—I know that he is both a keen advocate for chess and a keen player. I join him in commending the Chess in Schools and Communities charity for its work in teaching chess to young people, and the Royal School Wolverhampton for hosting the event. I will raise his specific question about funding with the Department for Education and get him the answer he needs.

[David Davis (Goole and Pocklington) (Con)]

This morning’s papers report that my two national health service trusts are the worst in the country. One of the more stupid proposals of the management of one of those trusts was a plan to downgrade Goole and District hospital in my constituency. Under the leadership of the former chief executive, one Jonathan Lofthouse, those underperforming trusts repeatedly lied to me, so the House will not be surprised to hear that we had some robust conversations. Mr Lofthouse was then put on gardening leave at the astonishing salary of £285,000 a year. I would have sacked him out of hand; instead, he is now NHS England’s director of turnaround and recovery for my region, the very body tasked with fixing the failing trusts of which he was a cause. This is the institutional rewarding of failure, and it is by no means the first time. Can we therefore have a debate on the national health service’s habitual strategy of failing upwards managers who have let down our constituents?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I am shocked by the suggestion that anyone should lie to Members of Parliament—that is entirely unacceptable. The right hon. Gentleman has put on record his concern about that, and I have no doubt that he delivered his concerns in a robust manner. He tried his very best to give as much detail as he could in the limited time we have this morning; I suggest that either he seeks an Adjournment debate on this matter to give further voice to his concerns, or if he wants a meeting with Health Ministers to make his case, I will arrange one for him.