Oral Answers to Questions

Edward Miliband Excerpts

Wednesday 9th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I can certainly give my hon. Friend that assurance, and I can add that we will continue our dementia challenge, which is about doubling research into dementia and treating it like a disease such as cancer or heart disease. The work we are doing to make sure that local communities are more dementia- friendly must continue, and we must also improve the care that elderly people get in care homes, nursing homes and hospitals. That vital work must continue, too, and we will continue to use our position in the G7 to push the issue globally.

[Edward Miliband (Doncaster North) (Lab)]

The events of the last week have caused deep concern and anger to the public. What lessons has the Prime Minister learned from his handling of the situation?

[The Prime Minister]

First, I agree with the right hon. Gentleman that there is still very deep and very raw public concern about the expenses scandal that rocked the last Parliament. The biggest lesson I have learned is that that anger is still very raw and needs to be acted on. I hope the one lesson that will not be learned is that the right thing to do as soon as someone has to answer allegations is just to remove them instantly, rather than give them a chance to clear their name and get on with their job.

[Edward Miliband]

I was asking about the Prime Minister’s handling of the situation and the lessons he has learned, and he had no answer. In his letter to the former Culture Secretary today, he wrote:

“I think it is important to be clear that the Committee on Standards cleared you of the unfounded allegations made against you”.

Can he now explain what, in his view, she did wrong?

[The Prime Minister]

The former Culture Secretary set out the reasons for her resignation in her letter, but the right hon. Gentleman makes an important point, which is that the former Culture Secretary was accused of a very serious offence by a Member of Parliament. She was accused of housing her parents at public expense. She was cleared of that allegation, and I thought it was right in those circumstances—other people can take their own view, but I am talking about my view—to allow her to make her apology and to continue with her job. I think that was the right way to handle the situation. Other people can take their own view, but I think that if people clear themselves of a serious offence, you let them get on with their job—you let them try to do their job. That is actually the right thing to do.

[Edward Miliband]

I have to say to the Prime Minister that it will be completely unclear to the country why the former Culture Secretary is not still in her job, because he thinks that she did nothing wrong. Let me explain to him—[Interruption.]

[Mr Speaker]

Order. This session will be conducted in an orderly way, however long it takes. I happen to know that there are children here today observing our proceedings. I would like to think that the House will show a good example. Let us see if we can.

[Edward Miliband]

What she did wrong was to refuse to co-operate with an inquiry, breach the code of conduct for MPs, and give a perfunctory and inadequate apology to this House, as people on all sides have been saying. The Prime Minister said six days ago that she had “done the right thing” and that we should “leave it at that”. Does he now recognise that that was a terrible error of judgment?

[The Prime Minister]

As I say, I think that it was right to allow her the chance to get on with her job. There is one weakness in the right hon. Gentleman’s argument. If he thought that was the case, why did he not call on her to resign? He seems to be the first Leader of the Opposition, probably in history, to come to this House and make his first suggestion that someone should resign after they have already resigned.

[Edward Miliband]

Now I have heard everything—it is my job to fire members of his Cabinet! This is about him and the fact that he still does not understand what the former Culture Secretary did wrong. The reason the public were so appalled was that if it had happened in any other business, there would have been no question of her staying in her job. Why was he the last person in the country to realise that her position was untenable?

[The Prime Minister]

It is very clear. She did do some things wrong. That is why she was asked to apologise, and she did apologise. It was not right not to co-operate properly with the Committee, and she apologised for that. It is rather extraordinary that the right hon. Gentleman comes here, having not said that she should resign, saying that she should have resigned. It shows all the signs of someone seeing a political bandwagon and wanting to jump on it. He is jumping on this bandwagon after the whole circus has left town.

Where I agree with the right hon. Gentleman is that there is still more that needs to be done to deal with the problems of expenses that we suffered in the last Parliament. We have made some big steps forward. I am not sure that everybody knows this, but any expense complaint from 2010 onwards is dealt with by an independent body and not by MPs. That is right. The Committee of MPs that does the work on the past cases now has members of the public sitting on it. That is right. Let us do more to reassure the public about the scandal of expenses and how we are dealing with it. I am very happy to hold meetings with party leaders and the authorities of this House. It is absolutely right that we should do everything we can to show that this is a good and honest Parliament with good and hard-working people in it. That is the assumption that I start from, and I make no apology for that.

[Edward Miliband]

The Prime Minister describes it as a “bandwagon” and a “circus”. This is about members of the public in this country being absolutely appalled at the conduct of his Government over the last week. That is what it is about. It is about members of the public who cannot understand why he did not act. He said in his foreword to the “Ministerial Code”:

“the British people…expect the highest standards of conduct. We must not let them down.”

Does he not realise that his failure, even now, to recognise what went wrong has undermined trust not only in his Government, but in politics?

[The Prime Minister]

What we see is absolutely transparent: the right hon. Gentleman came here today determined to play politics in every single way that he could. That is absolutely clear. Since 2010—[Interruption.]

[The Prime Minister]

I think that Members across the House know that since 2010—since the last Parliament—a lot of changes have been made. We have independent members on the parliamentary Committee; the publication of all meetings, visits and gifts for Ministers; the publication of all special adviser salaries; and the publication of Government spending. Is there more to do? Yes, absolutely, there is more to do. If the right hon. Gentleman is serious about doing it, he will sit down with other party leaders and the authorities of this House. Let us ask what we can do to put it beyond doubt that this is a good and honest Parliament with hard-working people. If he wants to play politics and he wants a good soundbite on the news, he should carry on. If you’re serious, get serious.

[Edward Miliband]

I will have meetings with the Prime Minister any time about how we reform the systems of this House—of course I will—but he just doesn’t get it. That is what he has shown today. He needs to learn profound lessons about how he runs his Government. The former Culture Secretary went not because of her bad conduct but because of her bad press. The Prime Minister promised in opposition to be an apostle for better standards, and he has spent the last week being an apologist for unacceptable behaviour.

[The Prime Minister]

If the right hon. Gentleman thinks that it is leadership to fire someone at the first sign of trouble rather than actually give someone a chance to get on with the job, that is actually not leadership, but weakness. If that is his recommendation for leadership, I do not think the country will have any of it.