Oral Answers to Questions

Lincoln Jopp Excerpts

Thursday 25th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst.

[Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)]

Double dip!

[Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst (Solihull West and Shirley) (Con)]

T2. Indeed—I am back by popular demand.Will the Minister set out what steps the Cabinet Office is taking to ensure that public appointments are made on merit alone and not based on political patronage or ideological principles?

--- Later in debate ---

[Lincoln Jopp (Spelthorne) (Con)]

T7. During Armed Forces Week, it is such a pleasure to see so many members of the armed forces around the Palace of Westminster, and in particular to see so many members of the senior service in the Public Gallery. When they came in, I thought it might be a coup d’état and that I just had not had the memo, but then I realised that in this place people do not wear uniforms for a coup.On 1 June, I asked the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister whether officials and the security services were going to go through Lord Mandelson’s time in office with a fine-toothed comb to make sure that he had not been subject to leverage. He reassured me:“I can confirm…that officials are conducting that review of documentation.”—[Official Report, 1 June 2026; Vol. 786, c. 866.]Could he give us an update on that review, and reassure the House that it will not be shuffled under the carpet?

[Darren Jones]

My experience of coups is that they do not come with a memo in advance, so the hon. Member should not feel sorry for not having had one. I can assure him that those investigations are under way; I cannot yet give him a time for when they will conclude, but I note that parallel investigations are happening in the European Parliament. When updates are available, my successor will come to the House with that information.