Standards in Public Life
Debate between Darren Jones and Ben Obese-Jecty(1 day, 5 hours ago)
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Darren Jones
Where the Government have jurisdiction over documents and in compliance with the Humble Address, we will publish them, as I said to the House earlier today.
Ben Obese-Jecty (Huntingdon) (Con)
The Chief Secretary keeps making reference to, “If we had known then what we know now,” with regard to Peter Mandelson’s appointment. The key fact is that we already knew of Peter Mandelson’s ongoing relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, as the Prime Minister spoke about at PMQs last week, just as the Government knew about Matthew Doyle’s relationship with Sean Morton and still gave him a peerage after the internal investigation. Let me come back to the resignation statement of the chief of staff yesterday. He stated that he
“did not oversee the due diligence and vetting process”.
Can the Chief Secretary explain who did oversee the due diligence and vetting process?
Darren Jones
Those processes are administered by the propriety and ethics team in the Cabinet Office, by the Foreign Office and by all the normal, appropriate authorities.
Public Finances: Borrowing Costs
Debate between Darren Jones and Ben Obese-Jecty(1 year, 1 month ago)
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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.
Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Darren Jones
The Chancellor meets the Governor of the Bank of England on a regular basis and will continue to do so.
Ben Obese-Jecty (Huntingdon) (Con)
It has been widely reported that the Chancellor now faces a choice between raising taxes or cutting public spending if she is to stay within her non-negotiable fiscal rules. Given reports that she will now conduct group meetings with Ministers, rather than the less combative approach of one-to-one meetings conducted by the right hon. Gentleman, to discuss departmental cuts, it sounds as if Government spending is being dictated by the Ministers with the sharpest elbows. Can he reassure the House that there will not be any departmental cuts?
Darren Jones
I am pleased that the hon. Member can afford the subscription to Bloomberg News; I cannot, unfortunately, so I could not read the article to which he refers. He inadvertently asks me a question about the process of the spending review. [Interruption.] That was the question. We are embedding mission-led government, which is what the Prime Minister set out in his missions in his plan for change. That requires Departments to work together to make sure that they are absolutely focused on the delivery of the plan for change priorities, which is why the spending review is being done on a multilateral basis in a new way. I will be giving a speech on this issue in a couple of weeks’ time, and I will make sure that the hon. Gentleman gets an invitation.