1 year ago
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Philip Rycroft says speeding row shows ‘real lapse of judgment’ as pressure grows for PM to launch ethics inquiry
Good morning. Rishi Sunak is back from Japan, and this morning he is due to meet Sir Laurie Magnus, his ethics adviser, to discuss whether Magnus should launch an inquiry into claims that Suella Braverman, the home secretary, broke the ministerial code when she asked officials about arranging a private speed awareness course after she was caught speeding. These courses are meant to be group events, but Braverman did not want a bunch of strangers to know she was taking part.
Given the controversy this story has aroused, it will be surprising if Sunak does not order an inquiry. Here is Pippa Crerar’s overnight story.
This, on the face of it, I think, is a breach of the ministerial code. Obviously, there’s still investigations to be done and so on but the code is very clear. Ministers must ensure that no conflict arises or appears to arise between their public duties and their private interests.
Even asking a question of a civil servant as to how she might go on one of these courses puts them in an impossible position. And for somebody, you know, who wakes up in the morning and sees a future prime minister, this is a real lapse of judgment.
Civil servants are publicly funded. They’re paid for by you and me. They’re not there to support the personal interests of a minister. They don’t do their shopping, they don’t look after their children and they don’t sort out their speeding fine.
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