Rushanara Ali
Main Page: Rushanara Ali (Labour - Bethnal Green and Stepney)Department Debates - View all Rushanara Ali's debates with the Cabinet Office
(4 years, 4 months ago)
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Michael Gove
As ever, my right hon. Friend speaks good sense. It is the case that national security advisers, like other advisers, are there to advise, and then Ministers decide.
Rushanara Ali (Bethnal Green and Bow) (Lab)
The Minister has said that he believes that civil service objectivity, neutrality and expertise is a source of pride, so why are his Government riding roughshod over that objectivity, neutrality and expertise and politicising a very important national security appointment?
Michael Gove
I should say that we never had a National Security Adviser under a Labour Government. Some of us might think that we were well or poorly governed at that time, but it seems to me slightly recherché of the Labour party to object to the evolution of a role that it had no part in either creating or advocating.