After rehabilitating himself from a Blair-stabbing, expenses-hoarding Brownite boot-boy to the scourge of the Murdochs, Tom Watson has quit the Culture Media and Sport Select Committee.
Leading the way on phone-hacking, and getting a nice book deal out the it too, Watson was promoted to deputy party chairman of the Labour Party in October 2011. Controversially Watson has spent a year breaking the convention that Select Committees are made up of backbenchers.
As Guido covered at the time Watson over-reached on more than one occasion on the job and there were sighs of relief from those around the committee that Guido has been talking with today. Though a Labour source says:
“I am tempted to say it’s not the same since Louise Mensch left, but in reality he said when he joined shadow cabinet he would leave at suitable point when hacking inquiries are finished and with Leveson evidence finished and report a few weeks away he thought it was suitable time.”
With Therese Coffey and Damien Collins being promoted, and Mrs Mensh departing these shores, it’s all change at CMS.
A senior parliamentary source tells Guido that the arrest of News of the World lawyer Tom Crone has thrown a mighty spanner in the works of the Standards and Privileges Committee. After the Culture Select Committee concluded that the three News International executives had misled the Parliament, the Standard’s Committee were deciding on a suitable punishment for Crone along with Colin Myler and Les Hinton. Having declared back in July that they would not be locking them up, the punishment most expected was admonishment from the Speaker at the bar of the House, though this has not happened since the fifties. However the minutes of the July meeting state:
“The Committee will suspend its inquiry if requested to do so by the Director of Public Prosecutions on the grounds that to continue might prejudice any pending legal proceedings or criminal investigations.”
As Guido understands it, there has not been a formal request, but the arrest of Crone means that no punishment passed, without risking prejudicing any future trial. As this issue is likely to take years rather than months to resolve, there is growing anger around the committees that the three executives are going to get away with their deception scot-free. Parliament has been neutered.
With Steve Field leaving his post as the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman now is as good a time as any to shake things up at No.10. Guido has long campaigned for reform of the Lobby, and there was some intriguing movement today as political hacks called for Downing Street press briefings to be revamped. Lobby members slammed Field for refusing to answer questions, highlighting his infamous “I don’t do politics” line and also calling for the briefings to be held on camera. Guido has been saying that for years…
So far No.10 has yet to decide on who will replace Field, with the Treasury’s head of press Jean-Christophe Gray hotly tipped to take over. Watch this space…
£100,000-a-year union baron Brendan Barber’s hypocrisy knows no bounds. Earlier this week the TUC fat cat lectured us on Britain’s “stratospheric inequality”, and it seems he would know. According to reports Barber will pocket a six-figure golden goodbye when he quits his post later this year. That’s not all – he will then go on to receive £62,000 a year as part of a generous gold-plated pension scheme. Using average life expectations the 61-year-old Barber is likely to live for another 25 years, that leaves him with an overall pension pot totalling equivalent to some £1,550,000.
All this despite the fact that union membership has actually fallen by some 143,000 in the last year. Hardly performance-related pay…
Former Osborne bagcarrier turned BIS Junior Minister Matt Hancock is well known for his own sense of self-importance, but just in case you were not aware, he has confirmed his status as a great Tory statesman on the record. Speaking about other young ministers, Hancock has told this week’s Speccie:
“Well, I remind people that Winston Churchill is widely regarded as one of the finest statesmen our country has ever seen . . . likewise, William Pitt became prime minister in his 20s, and both of these men achieved great heights over their careers…I have a huge affinity for Disraeli.”
Good to see being promoted to Vince Cable’s No. 3 has not gone to his head…
