List of Ministers’ Interests and Ministerial Code Debate
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Angela Eagle
Main Page: Angela Eagle (Labour - Wallasey)Department Debates - View all Angela Eagle's debates with the Cabinet Office
List of Ministers’ Interests and Ministerial Code
Angela Eagle Excerpts(1 year, 7 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Watch Debate Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
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Alex Burghart
My right hon. Friend is a lover of brevity, and the truth is that he will have seen in the Prime Minister’s letter to the former Deputy Prime Minister that it is necessary to make sure any
“shortcomings in the historic process”
are addressed. He has asked the Cabinet Office to look at that and we intend to do so swiftly.
Dame Angela Eagle (Wallasey) (Lab)
But the system that we came into this Parliament with only works if the Prime Minister has integrity and he does not keep ignoring the adviser on ministerial interests and the reports that they come up with into things like bullying by Cabinet Ministers. The fact is that we have had two of those advisers resign because their reports were not followed, and that has led to the ministerial list of interests being unavailable to the public for many, many months and many, many more changes of Government. That is completely unsatisfactory. Does the Minister not therefore agree that we need a much more rigorous, transparent system that does not rely on the honour of Prime Ministers, which can now no longer be counted upon?
Alex Burghart
I hope that the hon. Lady was not suggesting that my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister was dishonourable, because I think that would have been out of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. However, I am sure she will appreciate that the former independent adviser Lord Geidt said that the Prime Minister had been “assiduous” in his reporting. The report—the list— published by Sir Laurie Magnus just a few days ago suggests that he has been likewise in this return, as have all Ministers, and that wherever any perceived conflicts of interest have been found, they are being dealt with.