Matt Hancock has just finished giving a personal statement to the Commons, apologising for “inadvertently” committing a “minor breach” of the Members’ Code of Conduct. In a short contribution, he said:
“The Committee on Standards found that I did not seek to break the rules, had no prospect of personal gain and acted without malice. However they recommended that I apologised to the House and the Commissioner for this minor breach… I am happy to do so.”
Case closed.
Matt Hancock has been told he must apologise to MPs for a “minor breach” of the Commons Code of Conduct, with sleaze commissioner Daniel Greenberg ruling Hancock had broken Commons rules by attempting to “lobby” Greenberg over another potential breach of the Code. Now he’s been told to ‘fess up, having previously claimed it was a “misunderstanding”…
Today Greenberg said Hancock had
“sought to influence his consideration of whether a breach of the Code”, with the standards committee adding it “agrees with the Commissioner that Mr Hancock breached paragraph 14 of the Code of Conduct for Members, which concerns lobbying the Commissioner, when sending an unsolicited letter to the Commissioner on March 28”.
More of a (Han)cock up than anything else…
The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has today concluded that Rachel Maclean broke rule 8 of the Code of Conduct for Members. The Housing Minister’s “minor” rule breach arose when she used her parliamentary email address to send 2,429 party political emails to constituents on the day of the local elections. Rachel Maclean accepted the Standards Commissioner’s decision, and outlined how she would prevent a further such breach:
“By sending an email to my constituents on my mailing list using my parliamentary email address on 4 May 2023, I acted in breach of rule 8 of the Code of Conduct. I have taken several steps to prevent the recurrence of the breach, including:
- Ensuring all of my team members undertake additional training so they are more familiar with how the mailing list system works.
- Updating the email address my newsletter is sent from, so it no longer comes from my Parliamentary email.
- I have put in place additional audit procedures within my office team to ensure that mistakes of this nature do not occur again.”
Case closed.
Co-conspirators can read the full report, including the offending email, below:
Disgraced Ex-SNP Margaret Ferrier has lost the appeal against her 30-day Commons Suspension. In a report today, published by Parliament’s Independent Expert Panel, Ferrier’s sanction was upheld, and her appeal dismissed “at the first stage”. The Panel’s Chair, Sir Stephen Irwin, also criticised the MP for failing to provide a timeline of events to both the Standards Commissioner and the Panel on appeal. Stephen Irwin wrote:
“The sub-panel dismissed Ms Ferrier’s appeal at the first stage of appeal… none of the grounds had substance and the sanction imposed was neither unreasonable nor disproportionate… The Committee’s recommended sanction is upheld.”
If the Commons approves the sanction, Ferrier will face a recall petition which, if successful, would result in a by-election. Yet another headache for the SNP…
Co-conspirators can read the Independent Expert Panel’s report in full below:
The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has opened an investigation into Housing Minister, Rachel Maclean, just as David Mundell was found to have breached the rules. Maclean is being investigated for her “Use of facilities [parliamentary email address] provided from the public purse”. Meanwhile, Mundell made the mistake of sending out a newsletter covering a range of issues – which is prohibited by stationery rules. The claim is not being taken further after he apologised and reimbursed the £1,359 cost. A slap on the wrist.
Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg has launched yet another investigation… this time into the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. The probe concerns a potential failure to declare an interest, amid questions over whether a childcare business his family has shares in stands to benefit from new policies in last month’s Budget. A Downing Street spokesperson said:
“We are happy to assist the Commissioner to clarify how this has been transparently declared as a Ministerial interest.”
Greenberg’s only been in the job since January…
UPDATE: Angela Rayner makes a fair point
“This Government’s failure to update the rules or publish a register of ministers’ interests in nearly a year has left a transparency black hole which is enabling the Prime Minister and those he has appointed to dodge proper scrutiny of their affairs. If Rishi Sunak has got nothing to hide, he should commit to publishing the register before May’s elections so the public can see for themselves.”
