Civil Service Impartiality Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Civil Service Impartiality

Lee Anderson Excerpts
Monday 6th March 2023

(1 year, 9 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Jeremy Quin Portrait Jeremy Quin
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I concur. I fear that the Leader of the Opposition, in making this appointment, perhaps blundered in his approach and did not really realise or think through the consequences of someone right at the heart of Government being invited to take up a position in the heart of the Labour party, shifting from incredibly important ongoing work to then working in a more party political guise, which obviously has implications.

Lee Anderson Portrait Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Con)
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This latest grubby scandal from the Labour party has cast a dark stain on democracy. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Leader of the Opposition should come out of hiding, come clean and publish the details of the meetings?

Jeremy Quin Portrait Jeremy Quin
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That would help. I have been pondering the earlier question about the efficacy of people moving from the civil service into party political roles. Clearly that cannot be deemed an impossibility, and many of us have benefited from time in the civil service before taking on political roles. But there are ways of doing this; that is what is so important, and it would be very helpful if the Labour party could transparently set out exactly what took place.