Alice has finished. They didn’t tell us anything new about why Geidt resigned.
Alice The powers of an independent advisor on the interests of ministers are said to have changed.
Alice says she now has the power to launch an investigation.
And he says the Ministerial Code acknowledges that proportional sanctions should be available to ministers who break the Code. Previously, resignation was the only sanction in principle.
Ellis says it has also been agreed that changes to the ministerial code will be considered with the advisor.
Geetat’s resignation will release number 10, MPs told
Fleur Anderson Asks questions to Labor, asks for statements.
Michael EllisThe Cabinet Office ministers begin by thanking Lord Geidt for his work. He says that he holds her in the highest esteem.
MPs will acknowledge that Geidt has demonstrated “diligence and diligence” in the way he does his job.
He says that Geedat’s letter and the PM’s reply on it will be handed over to the House – that is, it will be published for the MPs, that is, we will all get a chance to read them soon.
Commons urgent question on Geidt’s resignation
The Commons UQ on Lord Geidt’s resignation will begin shortly.
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Ellis’s ministerial response this morning will be the “update” promised by Dominic Raab.
from insider Henry Dyer
Michael Ellis lurks behind the Speaker’s chair as he prepares to answer Labor’s impending question on Lord Geidt’s resignation.
— Henry Dear (@Reviews) 16 June 2022
Raab says he wants to stop Britain from being bound by European Human Rights Court injunction
The deportation flight to Rwanda was barred from leaving the UK on Tuesday night, not because the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the policy was illegal, but because the court allowed what was effectively an injunction Saying that the evacuation of any one of the people on board the flight should be banned.
in the interview this morning Dominic RaboThe Justice Secretary and Deputy PM said that the UK government wants to stop this type of injunction court in the UK. He said the government’s Bill of Rights – the law promised in the Queen’s speech amending the Human Rights Act – would address this. He told Times Radio:
With regard to Strasbourg’s latest intervention, the so-called Rule 39 interim orders, which are not based in the European Convention [on human rights], they are based on the rules of procedure, internal rules of the court. I certainly believe – and our Bill of Rights will provide – that they should not have a legally binding effect under UK law.
In terms of the rule of law, I feel that when the High Court, the Court of Appeal has considered the matter, the Supreme Court has said that there is no ground for appeal, it is not correct. And there is no basis for Strasbourg’s interference in the European Convention.
I have always said that I think we should remain the party of the state [to the court]But I think we need to respect the obligations, but the Strasbourg court also needs to respect the limits of its mandate and it’s a two-way street.
Hospital waiting list in England reaches 6.5m – new record high
The number of people waiting to start routine hospital treatment in England has reached a new record high, PA Media reports. PA says:
NHS England said a total of 6.5 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of April.
This is up from 6.4 million in March and the highest number since records began in August 2007.
The number of people who waited more than 52 weeks to start hospital treatment in England stood at 323,093 in April, up from 306,286 the previous month.
The government and NHS England have set an ambition to end all waits of more than a year by March 2025.
Journalists often like to take credit for forcing the resignation of politicians or senior public figures. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein established it with Watergate as a benchmark for journalistic masculinity and – rightly or wrongly – it has been a feature of newspaper culture ever since.
It is usually news reporters or investigative journalists who claim the skull. But in Lord Geidt’s case, it could be the sketch authors – including my colleagues, John Cresse – who forcibly took him out. Geidt experienced a very difficult session on Tuesday with the Committee on Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs, but facing questions to read about it in the newspapers the next day may not be as painful. Here is John’s sketch.
this morning on sky news Dominic Raab, The justice secretary and deputy PM said he felt the committee hearing was a factor in Geidt’s resignation. They said:
They got quite a scathing squabble by MPs this week, I think sometimes we in the media and as politicians probably underestimate how civil servants feel with that kind of scrutiny.
Raab is right to say that Geidt is the one who did not face media slander for most of his career. For 10 years he was the Queen’s personal secretary, and in that position he was considered a sophisticated establishment powerbroker.
Being the object of ridicule in the selection committee could not have been pleasant for him. but the hearing took place force him to face questions Regarding his role, which he found difficult to answer.
Cabinet Office minister to answer Commons urgent question about Geidt’s resignation at 10.30 am
A Cabinet Office minister will answer an urgent question about Lord Geidt’s resignation in the Commons at 10.30 am. The UQ has been introduced by Fleur Anderson, Shadow Paymaster General of Labour, and so we will probably get an answer from Michael Ellis, Paymaster General and Minister of the Cabinet Office. When a minister in the Commons is required to make a statement that involves defending the integrity of Boris Johnson, Ellis usually gets the call.
Pressure to print Lord Geidt’s resignation letter at number 10
Good morning. More than a year ago, when he was first appointed as independent adviser on the interests of ministers (official title) or “moral adviser” (media shorthand) to Boris Johnson, lord guidto Said that, if Johnson ignored his advice, he could retaliate by resigning “as a last resort”, he told lawmakers: “There is power.” Last night, in a surprise move, she used it. Here’s our overnight story about his passing.
Geidt’s resignation (extraordinarily long) provides a new component to the list of evidence that testifies to moral incongruity. boris johnson Administration. Regular readers won’t need to be reminded what else is on the list (and, moreover, it will take some time to type).
But Geidt did not explain why he resigned. We know he was unhappy with the fact that Johnson initially hid important evidence from him during the investigation. Downing Street Flat Renovation Funding (Johnson claims this was a mistake), and we know Geidt was concerned about Johnson saying that his partygate fine did not mean he had broken the ministerial code. But last night Geidt issued just a one-sentence explanation for his departure, saying: “With regret, I think it is appropriate that I resign my position as independent adviser on the interests of ministers.” I’m gone.”
The government made a statement suggesting that the resignation was linked to Geidt being asked to look into “a commercially sensitive matter in the national interest that had previously received cross-party support”, but that Did not agree to this. It didn’t mean that.
Geidt wrote the resignation letter to the PM and this morning the government is under pressure to publish it. Sir Philip Mawer, Who did Geidt’s job when Gordon Brown was prime minister, told the TODAY program:
If the letter and the PM’s reply are not published, I think people will draw their own conclusions and it will not be favorable to the Prime Minister.
And Chris BryantThe Labor MP, who chaired the Commons Standards Committee, said the same thing. He told the program:
Reading between the lines and the various reports prepared by him, he [Lord Geidt] Basically it thinks that the prime minister himself has broken the ministerial code. He feels that because the only person who is the arbiter of the code of conduct is the Prime Minister, he does not feel competent to say so.
Dominic Raab, The Justice Secretary and Deputy PM, while giving an interview on behalf of the government this morning and in today’s program, did not even tell whether Geidt had written his resignation. When asked if it would be published, he replied:
I know Number 10 will give a proper update later today and these questions will be answered.
Here is the agenda for the day.
at 10 am: Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps delivers a speech on rail reform.
11.30 am: Downing Street holds its lobby briefing.
12:00 PM: Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon questioned the MSP.
I try to monitor comments down the line (BTL) but it’s impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, include “Andrew” somewhere in that and I’m more likely to find it. I try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I’ll post questions and answers above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to get my attention quickly, maybe it’s better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow,
Alternatively, you can email me here [email protected]