Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests Resignation
Debate between Martin Docherty-Hughes and Michael Ellis(2 years, 5 months ago)
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Michael Ellis
It is kind of the right hon. Lady to ask that question. I think the Prime Minister has a lot of good luck in winning elections. He won elections in London, he won a general election in this country, and he will win more.
Martin Docherty-Hughes (West Dunbartonshire) (SNP)
When questioned at the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee on Tuesday, the now former ethics adviser described himself as
“an asset of the Prime Minister…rather than a free-orbiting adviser”.
Does the Minister not agree that it is time for the ethics adviser’s appointment to be truly independent of the Prime Minister and of politics, and for them to be appointed by the civil service board?
Michael Ellis
I think all our independent advisers since 2006 have been independent of politics. They have been people of the highest integrity and probity, as is Lord Geidt. It is a position that is increasingly put under considerable pressure, but we must have regard for that and ensure that the standards are maintained.
Downing Street Parties: Police Investigation
Debate between Martin Docherty-Hughes and Michael Ellis(2 years, 10 months ago)
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Michael Ellis
As I said in this House last time, the Prime Minister is going nowhere.
Martin Docherty-Hughes (West Dunbartonshire) (SNP)
Last night, the food critic Jay Rayner, quoting the late, great Julia Child, said
“a party without cake is just a meeting. Johnson’s staffers supplied a cake. Ergo, it was a party.”
Does the Paymaster General agree not only with Jay Rayner, but with the late, great Julia Child?
Downing Street Garden Event
Debate between Martin Docherty-Hughes and Michael Ellis(2 years, 10 months 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.
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Michael Ellis
The Prime Minister has personally thanked all of those who have worked to protect people during this pandemic and will continue to do so. He has visited hospitals, spoken to medical professionals—doctors, nurses, scientists—and to those directly involved and has repeatedly thanked them. He feels that thankfulness from the bottom of his heart. He himself was served at St Thomas’s Hospital by medical professionals who helped to save his life when he was admitted to intensive care. He knows this at first hand.
Martin Docherty-Hughes (West Dunbartonshire) (SNP)
As of yesterday, across Clydebank, Dumbarton and the Vale of Leven, 300 men and women—my constituents—have died of covid-19. Most were intubated, the vast majority were alone, and many were without access to the burial traditions of our ancestors. I ask the Paymaster General whether they agree that if a Tory party in Downing Street took place during a global public health emergency, and if the Prime Minister participated and/or sanctioned it in any shape or form, and if senior members of the British civil service in Whitehall did the same, or were even invited and did nothing to advise against it, that is a fatal blow not only to the Prime Minister’s premiership but to the independence and impartiality of the civil service in Whitehall?
Michael Ellis
It is not appropriate to prejudge. The hon. Gentleman wishes to prejudge what occurred. We will await the outcome of the investigation.
Downing Street Christmas Parties Investigation
Debate between Martin Docherty-Hughes and Michael Ellis(2 years, 11 months 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.
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Michael Ellis
It is certainly true, as a matter of geography, that No. 10 Downing Street is a very large property with a multitude of offices and with many, many people working inside it. In that sense, of course—geographically—my right hon. Friend is absolutely correct.
Martin Docherty-Hughes (West Dunbartonshire) (SNP)
On 16 December, on national television, the Prime Minister asked everyone to exercise
“the greatest possible personal responsibility.”
London also went into tier 3 restrictions, which stated:
“No person may participate in a gathering… You must not have a work Christmas lunch or party,”
whether it was in an office or in somebody’s flat upstairs.
On 18 December, Dr Katherine Henderson of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine stated on the BBC:
“We are at a really dangerous point which could tip into finding it incredibly difficult to manage.”
The same day, 514 people died of covid-19. I am sure the NHS and those in care homes were already over the tipping point.
On 18 December, the Prime Minister stated:
“If you are forming a Christmas Bubble, it’s vital that from today, you minimise contact with people from outside your household.”
The evening that statement was given by the Prime Minister in Downing Street, a Christmas party was held in No. 10, where officials knocked back glasses of wine during a Christmas quiz and a secret Santa. I wonder whether the Paymaster General agrees with me that if something looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and it is at a Christmas party, it is usually a duck.