Standards in Public Life
Debate between Sarah Jones and Michael Ellis(2 years, 4 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Michael Ellis
If the right hon. Gentleman is asking me about machinery-of-Government processes and changes, that is not within my area of responsibility, but he knows what has been said about that. There is work going on all the time to look at machinery of Government and no doubt that will continue.
Sarah Jones (Croydon Central) (Lab)
We now seem to be in a position where No. 10 have just admitted that the Prime Minister was told about the upheld complaint, but he forgot. Has the Minister ever found himself in a position where he did not immediately recall being told of an upheld complaint of sexual harassment against a fellow Minister?
Michael Ellis
I would ask the hon. Lady to understand that a Prime Minister has myriad urgent and pressing responsibilities. He may be told literally hundreds of things in any one day. The reality of the matter is that I cannot speak exactly to somebody else’s mind, whoever that person may be. But if she says to the House that she has never forgotten anything, or asks whether I have ever forgotten or misremembered something, I do not accept that.
Downing Street Garden Event
Debate between Sarah Jones and Michael Ellis(2 years, 10 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
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.
This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record
Michael Ellis
No, I do not agree, because that would be inappropriate. The Prime Minister has devoted his time as Prime Minister to serving the people of the country in dealing with the crisis that has been the pandemic—probably the biggest crisis of any type that has befallen the country since the end of the second world war. This Prime Minister has led the way. He has delivered on vaccines, on healthcare and across the board and he has achieved the results, in very difficult circumstances, that we see in the progress of the pandemic. We are awaiting the results of an independent investigation into allegations of gatherings. When we have that information, we will be able to comment further.
Sarah Jones (Croydon Central) (Lab)
Two days after the party on 20 May, the revelations came out about Dominic Cummings. Five days after the party, we had the Downing Street press conference, where he explained his activities in Barnard Castle. Some 923 people wrote to me in anger about that, many of whom were angry about not just the incident itself but the attempted cover-up. It seems that the Government are making exactly the same mistake again. The British people want honesty. I ask the Paymaster General a very simple question: completely separately from the inquiry, can he publish a list of the Prime Minister’s engagements on 20 May?
Michael Ellis
It is not a matter for me. The Prime Minister’s engagements, I believe, are a matter of public record. Those that are routinely released, are a matter of public record; those that are not, are not routinely released. That is the general practice that occurs and has occurred with Prime Ministers from the different parties of the House. I know that the hon. Lady will want to wait for the result of the investigation for a proper answer.