Another easy slam dunk victory to Penny…
The New Year’s Honours list is out and has the usual handful of gongs for politicians; well-deserved awards handed out to people for basically just doing their jobs. The list in full:
Knighthoods:
Damehoods:
CBEs:
OBEs:
MBEs:
Chris Bryant is giving a speech at the University of Westminster this evening on “truth, honesty and integrity.” In full, the ‘Civility in Politics 2022’ winner will talk on:
Chris Bryant should pause the pontificating until he spends some time on introspection…
Since Bryant won the civility in politics award – the irony of which Guido detailed here – he’s not stopped putting his foot in it.
A month after winning it he was forced to apologise for false claims he’d made in Parliament, the outcome of an unprecedented legal challenge that saw his parliamentary privilege come unstuck. Not just a minor false allegation – accusing Christopher Chandler of money laundering and being a Russian spy…
As Chris lectures students on how “news providers stir up hatred and drive divisive agendas”, he may want to think about his description of Liz Truss’s new batch of ministers:
“It feels like pretty much anyone with a brain, a conscience and a work ethic has been purged from government either by Johnson or Truss. It’s an empty vessel of a government – loud, noisy but dangerously vacuous.”
When he turns to “the importance of truth, honesty and integrity in public office”, he will surely mention his recent smearing of Tory MPs by falsely claiming – on the floor of the House – he had witnessed bullying in the voting lobbies the night of the fracking vote. He is yet to correct the record…
On the topic of calling on news publishers to be “bound by robust standards on accuracy”, he may choose to mention how even the BBC managed to show him up when he accused them of failing to mention Kate Andrews “is part of the [IEA]” when she appeared on Question Time last month. Of course she isn’t, and he didn’t back down when this inaccurate bullying of a female columnist was called out…
Anyone wanting to watch the speech can reserve a spot here. Guido, for one, will be giving it a miss…
Chris Bryant, incumbent winner of the civility in politics award, is currently hectoring Kate Andrews, one of the country’s most prominent female economic voices. Taking to Twitter, Chris Bryant complained that the BBC hadn’t accompanied her Question Time appearance with a mention that she “is part of the Institute for Economic Affairs, which is notoriously secretive about their funding.”
Why doesn’t @bbcquestiontime mention that Kate Andrews is part of the Institute of Economic Affairs, which is notoriously secretive about their funding?
— Chris Bryant (@RhonddaBryant) November 17, 2022
Two quick points, Chris:
The one-man standards arbiter strikes again…
UPDATE: Bryant doubles down
Further to Guido’s report this morning, three Tory MPs asked point of orders in the chamber this afternoon, all directed at the fake claims made by Chris Bryant on the night of the 19th October.
Former whip Mark Jenkinson, who was interviewed about the supposed fracas, accused Labour MPs of haranguing Tory MPs off the back of Bryant’s rule-breaking photo posted to Twitter.
Brendan Clarke-Smith asked for clarification on such photography rules; and Chris Clarkson asked whether the Deputy Speaker would call for Bryant to return to the chamber to correct the record – as Guido suggest he should, to avoid charges of hypocrisy.
Bryant was apparently too busy to turn up. Guido’s sure we’ll hear from him at some point. He is not a man to suffer in silence…
Chris Bryant is the chair of the Commons Committee on Standards. It is his job to uphold standards in the House and oversee investigations into other members for breaking rules. While confronting Boris at the Liaison Committee in 2021, Bryant slammed the then-PM for failing to correct the record:
“When a minister lies, they should correct the record, I presume you agree… It seems that you very rarely correct the record. Why is that?”
On the evening of Wednesday 19 October, Chris Bryant stood up in the Commons and told MPs the following as a matter of fact:
“As you know, Members are expected to be able to vote without fear or favour and the behaviour code, which is agreed by the whole House, says that there shall never be bullying or harassment of Members. I saw Members being physically manhandled into another Lobby and being bullied.”
On the BBC later that night he ramped up this rhetoric, saying what he saw was “clear bullying”.
Today’s report by the Speaker, summarising the testimony of those involved and with a good vantage point, rejects this claim entirely.
Lindsay Hoyle says, “While there was some physical contact between Members, there is no evidence from our investigation that this was any more than a gesture of comfort”.
Will the ever-virtuous Bryant follow his own advice and correct the record forthwith?