Afternoon summary
- Owen Paterson has announced his resignation as MP for North Shropshire, after Boris Johnson made clear he would no longer seek to prevent the former cabinet minister from being punished by parliament for lobbying. Yesterday Johnson ordered his MPs to vote down a report saying Paterson should be suspended from the Commons for 30 days. But less then 24 hours later, in one of the swiftest and most comprehensive government U-turns in recent times, No 10 announced that it was going to effectively tear up yesterday’s vote, allow a fresh debate on suspending Paterson and start again from scratch in attempting to gain cross-party support for reform of the disciplinary process for MPs. There is a Westminster joke about how eventually everyone gets let down by Boris Johnson, and the U-turn meant that Paterson - who yesterday enjoyed the full support of the No 10 machine - was today facing inevitable suspension from the Commons, and a possible recall election too. (See 4.31pm.) Paterson, who only last night was saying that he was looking forward to clearing his name and was calling for the resignation of the parliamentary commissioner for standards (see 11.11am), responded to the PM cutting him adrift by announcing that he was resigning as an MP. In a statement Paterson said he was doing so to put his family first. (See 2.45pm.) Johnson’s U-turn makes the government less vulnerable to the toxic charge of corruption and cronyism than it was, but the episode must have caused some reputational damage and Tory MPs who loyally defended what the government was doing yesterday are looking particularly exposed. It also remains unclear whether reform of the standards system will ever happen. Labour has not entirely ruled out joining a cross-party initiative in this area, but ministers’ main demand is to insert an appeal process into the current system - and Sir Keir Starmer argues this is unnecessary. (See 3.38pm.)
Updated
Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has described Owen Paterson’s resignation as a victory for the British public. Davey said:
Boris Johnson thought he could rewrite the rules to defend himself and his Tory chums from charges of sleaze and corruption without anyone noticing.
But he underestimated the British people and how badly this would go down, including among many lifelong Conservative voters.
It just shows that the Conservatives are taking people for granted. The public wants decency and honesty from their government, instead under Boris Johnson all they get is lies, chaos and cronyism.
Johnson pays tribute to Paterson, describing him as 'a voice for freedom'
Boris Johnson has issued a statement paying tribute to Owen Paterson. He said:
I am very sad that parliament will lose the services of Owen Paterson who has been a friend and colleague of mine for decades.
He has had a distinguished career, serving in two cabinet positions, and above all he has been a voice for freedom - for free markets and free trade and free societies - and he was an early and powerful champion of Brexit.
I know that this must have been a very difficult decision but I can understand why - after the tragic circumstances in which he lost his beloved wife Rose - he has decided to put his family first.
Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, wants Boris Johnson to launch an inquiry into Tory sleaze. One suspects he is unlikely to get his wish.
Boris Johnson must commit to an inquiry into the growing problem of Tory sleaze, cronyism and corruption at Westminster.
— Ian Blackford (@Ianblackford_MP) November 4, 2021
This Tory government is the sleaziest in decades - and the Owen Paterson affair is just the tip of the iceberg. Those responsible must be held to account.
At the No 10 afternoon lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson also said that Boris Johnson still had confidence in Mark Spencer, the government chief whip. “The prime minister has confidence in the chief whip and he continues to do an excellent job delivering for the government,” the spokesperson said.
According to the Guido Fawkes blog, many Conservative MPs blame Spencer for the Paterson vote fiasco, which has led to one of the swiftest and most comprehensive government U-turns on record, and prompted Owen Paterson to resign as an MP.
(If MPs had voted to suspend Paterson, he may have decided to resign anyway. If he hadn’t, campaigners might have tried to get the 10% of voters necessary to sign a petition calling for a recall election – a procedure allowed for a suspension of more than 10 sitting days. But there is no guarantee that this would have inevitably led to Paterson’s departure. Recall has been tried in three seats since the process was introduced in 2015 but in one, North Antrim, campaigners did not collect enough signatures. In another, Brecon and Radnorshire, the offending MP was reselected by his party to fight the byelection, which he lost. And the two seats where recall did lead to the MP changing – Brecon and Radnorshire, and Peterborough – are both marginals. North Shropshire is a safe Tory seat (see 3.21pm), which means activists from other parties would have little incentive to trigger a byelection.)
Updated
No 10 says Paterson's decision to resign means no need for vote on proposal to suspend him
At the afternoon lobby briefing Downing Street said that there was now no need for a vote on the standards committee report saying Owen Paterson should be suspended, in the light of his decision to resign as an MP.
Updated
Gavin Barwell, the Tory peer who was chief of staff to Theresa May when she was prime minister, has criticised Owen Paterson’s friends who encouraged him to contest the standards committee report saying he broke the rules banning paid lobbying.
I hope the 'friends' of Owen Paterson who convinced him that the best way protect his reputation was to fight the verdict of the independent Commissioner, rather than accepting it *even if he felt it was harsh*, are currently taking a long, hard look in the mirror https://t.co/IKlWZB48qx
— Gavin Barwell (@GavinBarwell) November 4, 2021
Pete Wishart, the SNP spokesperson on Commons matters, is also calling for Boris Johnson to apologise for his handling of the Owen Paterson affair. Wishart said:
Boris Johnson must now come to parliament to answer for his grubby role in the Tory corruption scandal. The prime minister must perform a full U-turn, apologise to the standards commissioner, and commit to an independent inquiry into the growing problem of Tory sleaze, cronyism and corruption at the heart of the UK government.
This Tory government is the sleaziest in decades. It has been beset by scandal after scandal - with the prime minister and his Tory colleagues guilty of breaking the ministerial code, acting unlawfully, handing peerages to donors, contracts to cronies and special access to their pals. The Owen Paterson affair is just the tip of the iceberg. It absolutely stinks.
Starmer claims it is wrong to say Paterson not given right of appeal
In an interview with BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine show at lunchtime, before Owen Paterson announced his resignation, Sir Keir Starmer said that Paterson and his supporters were “completely wrong” when they claimed that the Commons standards process did not give him a right of appeal. Starmer explained:
I’m sorry, that is completely wrong. The independent commissioner comes to a decision and then there is an appeal to the standards committee. And that appeal involves that individual, Owen Paterson, being able to put in, with his lawyers, his appeal points in writing and also to make his case in person which he did. So he’s been through the appeal.
And this idea there’s not an appeal is such a ... I’ve been six years in politics and many years as a lawyer, I’ve heard some really, really dodgy defences. That is as dodgy as they come.
Starmer said that Labour would not get involved in cross-party talks if they were designed to “get rid of the independent commissioner and replace it with a group of politicians to judge our own behaviour”. But he said he was open to plans that might strengthen the role of the commissioner.
Yesterday the Commons voted to set up a committee with a Tory majority, chaired by John Whittingdale, the former culture secretary, to review the way standards inquiries are carried out. But Labour and the SNP both said they would boycott it, and the plan to set it up has now been shelved.
The government is now going to make another attempt to reach cross-party consensus on reform (see 10.50am), but almost nothing has been said yet about what this might entail. Labour sources say whether or not the party participates will depend on what is being proposed.
Updated
Owen Paterson’s decision to resign means there will be a byelection in North Shropshire. But Paterson had a majority at the last election of 22,949, and so for the Conservatives to lose there it would have to be a catastrophic electoral meltdown for the party.
The Tories did lose Chesham and Amersham, another very safe seat, in a byelection earlier this year. But their majority in the seat in 2019 was “only” 16,223 (29%), not 41% as it was in North Shropshire at the general election. And in 2019 the Lib Dems (byelection experts, who specialise in hoovering up soft Conservative votes) were in second place in Chesham and Amersham, where HS2 was also a big factor. Paterson’s main opponent at the last three elections in North Shropshire was the Labour candidate.
Updated
Sir Keir Starmer has issued a statement responding to the news of Owen Paterson’s resignation, saying Boris Johnson should apologise. Starmer says:
This has been an unbelievable 24 hours even by this government’s chaotic standards. Only yesterday Boris Johnson was forcing his MPs to rip up the rules on standards in public life is a truly damning indictment of this prime minister and the corrupt government he leads.
Boris Johnson must now apologise to the entire country for this grubby attempt to cover up for the misdemeanour of his friend. This isn’t the first time he’s done this but it must be the last. And Boris Johnson must explain how he intends to fix the immense harm he has done to confidence in the probity of him and his MPs.
Opposition MPs may be surprised by the claim in Owen Paterson’s statement that some of them mocked his wife’s death by suicide last year. (See 2.45pm.) He may have been referring to a moment during PMQs yesterday. In his sketch (paywall) for the Times (paywall), Quentin Letts said: “At PMQs earlier, Boris Johnson had mentioned Rose Paterson’s suicide. Up went several aw-diddums ‘ahhs’ from the Labour side.” My colleague John Crace, the Guardian’s sketchwriter, was also in the gallery and he tells me he did not see anything that could be described as MPs mocking Rose’s death. My impression was that when Johnson mentioned Rose’s suicide, that did prompt a faint reaction from some MPs, but that was more because they felt Johnson was using Rose’s death as cover because he was finding it hard to justify the vote exempting Paterson from the standards committee recommendations. But I was listening to the debate on TV, not watching from the gallery, so I may have missed aspects of the reaction.
Updated
Paterson says his children have asked him to quit politics, partly in response to people mocking his wife's suicide
Here is the full statement from Owen Paterson announcing his decision to resign as an MP.
I have today, after consultation with my family, and with much sadness decided to resign as the MP for North Shropshire.
The last two years have been an indescribable nightmare for my family and me.
My integrity, which I hold very dear, has been repeatedly and publicly questioned.
I maintain that I am totally innocent of what I have been accused of and I acted at all times in the interests of public health and safety.
I, my family and those closest to me know the same. I am unable to clear my name under the current system.
Far, far worse than having my honesty questioned was, of course, the suicide of my beloved and wonderful wife, Rose.
She was everything to my children and me. We miss her every day and the world will always be grey, sad and ultimately meaningless without her.
The last few days have been intolerable for us.
Worst of all was seeing people, including MPs, publicly mock and deride Rose’s death and belittle our pain. My children have therefore asked me to leave politics altogether, for my sake as well as theirs.
I agree with them. I do not want my wife’s memory and reputation to become a political football.
Above all, I always put my family first.
This is a painful decision but I believe the right one.
I have loved being the MP for North Shropshire and have considered it a privilege to have been elected to serve my constituents for 24 years.
I would like to thank my staff who have worked for me so loyally over many years. I also want to thank those who have stood by me so staunchly.
I wish them all the best in that difficult but vital job of being a member of parliament.
I will remain a public servant but outside the cruel world of politics.
I intend to devote myself to public service in whatever ways I can, but especially in the world of suicide prevention.
At this incredibly difficult time for my family, we ask that the media respects our privacy and lets us grieve my beloved Rose, the best person I ever met.
Paterson said he would not be making any further comment.
Updated
Owen Paterson says he is quitting as an MP
Owen Paterson is going to step down as an MP, PA Media reports.
#Breaking Owen Paterson has decided to resign as the MP for North Shropshire, saying: “I will remain a public servant but outside the cruel world of politics” pic.twitter.com/h6BoKQTbVb
— PA Media (@PA) November 4, 2021
The meeting between Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, and Clément Beaune, the French minister for Europe, in Paris this morning does not seem to have achieved much. They were talking about the dispute about fishing licences. But in its readout afterwards, the UK government just said:
Lord Frost and Europe minister Clément Beaune met in Paris this morning. As foreshadowed, they discussed the range of difficulties arising from the application of the agreements between the UK and the EU. Both sides set out their positions and concerns.
The two ministers will speak again early next week. Frost also has a meeting tomorrow in Brussels with Maroš Šefčovič, his EU counterpart, which will focus on the ongoing dispute about the Northern Ireland protocol.
Updated
According to Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC’s political editor, on the World at One, Owen Paterson did not get any advance warning about the government U-turn that means MPs will get a fresh vote on suspending him from the Commons. My colleague Heather Stewart says this will reinforce suspicions (see 9.34am) that Paterson was not really the priority for No 10.
Raises the question again of whether this was really about Paterson, for the PM - or about undermining Stone/the standards regime. https://t.co/oTIIgVWH6s
— Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) November 4, 2021
Commons Speaker criticises Kwarteng for suggesting parliamentary commissioner for standards should resign
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, has criticised Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, for the interview he gave this morning suggesting the parliamentary commissioner for standards should resign. (See 9.27am.) Hoyle told MPs:
It’s not been a good period for the house, it’s been a very, very difficult time for all.
What I would say is I do appeal to members - whether they are secretary of state or whoever - please, staff members of this house shouldn’t be named, they’ve not got the right of reply or the ability to defend themselves ...
I’ve got to say please, rein in your thoughts, consider what you are doing to the individuals concerned, they also have to live through this like the rest of us.
Please, consider inappropriate behaviour and start acting responsible to the position that you hold.
Sir Roger Gale, a Conservative MP who voted for the amendment to shelve the suspension of Owen Paterson yesterday, has just told the World at One that, in the new vote on suspending Paterson, he will probably abstain.
He said he was glad the government had taken the decision to decouple the proposal for reform of the system, which he favours, from the Paterson case. But he also said he was reluctant to vote for Paterson’s suspension because he did not believe his colleague had received a fair hearing.
The Telegraph’s Tony Diver has a picture of the vandalism done to the office of the Tory MP Peter Bone overnight. Bone told MPs earlier that this was a result of his decision to vote to shelve the proposal to suspend Owen Paterson yesterday. (See 11am.)
EXC: This is Peter Bone’s constituency office, which was vandalised last night. It’s been reported to the police.
— Tony Diver (@Tony_Diver) November 4, 2021
He says: “I’m not going to be intimidated by these thugs who don’t like the way I voted.” pic.twitter.com/owYyDma1nA
Summary of Downing Street lobby briefing
And here is a full summary of the Downing Street lobby briefing.
- No 10 has confirmed that another Commons vote will be held on the proposal to suspend Owen Paterson as an MP “as soon as possible”. (See 12.36pm.)
- The spokesman indicated government MPs would not be whipped on the new vote. Votes on standards committee recommendations are normally free votes, because they are seen as House of Commons business. The decision to whip the vote yesterday was an exception, not the norm.
- The spokesman was unable to say exactly when Boris Johnson changed his mind on this issue. But he said it was clear “there’s not cross-party consensus for the amendment that was voted through yesterday”.
- The spokesman refused to back Kwasi Kwarteng’s suggestion that Kathryn Stone should resign as parliamentary commissioner for standards. That was a matter for her, he said. He also disputed claims that Kwarteng had suggested she should resign, citing the proviso Kwarteng included in his interview (“But I’m not saying she should resign” - even though Kwarteng did seem to be saying that - see 9.27am).
- But the spokesman also refused to say Johnson had confidence in Stone. Asked if he did, the spokesman just said Johnson was focused on the need to include an appeals system in the process.
- The spokesman rejected Dominic Cummings’ claim that yesterday’s vote was intended to undermine Stone. (See 9.34am.) Asked if the vote was a pre-emptive strike against her, the spokesman said no. He also denied Cummings’ claims that Johnson had lied about the funding of his flat.
- The spokesman defended Johnson’s decision to take a private jet fro Glasgow to London on Tuesday night after attending the Cop26 climate conference. (See 10.13am.) The spokesman said the government was taking a lead in addressing climate change. He also said that the plane used sustainable aviation fuel, and that emissions were offset.
-
The spokesman would not say if Johnson discussed the Owen Paterson case with Charles Moore at the dinner on Tuesday. (See 10.13am.) Moore and Paterson are very close friends, and Moore has been one of his strongest defenders in the media. The spokesman said it was a private dinner and he had not discussed it with the PM.
- The spokesman condemned the latest Insulate Britain protest (see 1.01pm), saying the group were causing “intolerable disruption”.
Updated
Insulate Britain campaigners have been protesting outside the Houses of Parliament today. Some of them glued their hands to the road.
MPs to get vote 'as soon as possible' on proposal to suspend Owen Paterson, No 10 says
The Downing Street lobby briefing has just finished, and the prime minister’s spokesman has confirmed that another Commons vote will be held on the proposal to suspend Owen Paterson as an MP “as soon as possible”.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, will give details of the vote in due course, the spokesman said. He said the government was decoupling the Paterson issue from the wider issue of reforming the way the Commons disciplinary process operates, and that at a later date proposals for reform would be put to a vote separately.
Asked to explain the U-turn, the spokesman said the government was responding to “strong feeling” in the Commons. He went on:
The amendment itself required cross-party consensus. Once it became clear that was not going to be achieved, it was necessary to look again at this and therefore separate out this individual case with a wider necessity to introduce an appeals process.
Asked why No 10 did not decouple the two issues from the start, the spokesman said the government was trying to address both issues as soon as it could.
I will post more from the lobby shortly.
This is from Mark Harper, a former Tory chief whip.
This is one of the most unedifying episodes I have seen in my 16 years as a Member of Parliament.
— Mark Harper (@Mark_J_Harper) November 4, 2021
My colleagues should not have been instructed, from the very top, to vote for this.
This must not happen again. https://t.co/8a1kXGcHwA
Harper was one of the 13 Tory rebels who defied the whip and voted against the Andrea Leadsom amendment yesterday.
There were actually 14 full Tory rebels yesterday (if you define a full rebel as someone who votes against the whip, instead of just abstaining). Sir Peter Bottomley, the father of the Commons, abstained on the Leadsom amendment, but in the second vote (on the main motion, as amended) he voted against.
Starmer accuses Johnson of 'leading his troops through the sewer'
Sir Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of “leading his troops through the sewer”, the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg reports.
Starmer accuses the PM of 'leading his troops through the sewer' - says what's happened in the last 24 hours is 'corruption, and corruption from the very top'
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) November 4, 2021
Starmer also challenges govt to hold the vote on Paterson's suspension on Monday
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) November 4, 2021
From the FT’s Robert Shrimsley
The one thing you have to give Johnson is that he does know when to stop digging. Doesn’t excuse the fact that he did it in the first place but not many leaders are quite so quick to change horses once they know they’ve backed a loser
— robert shrimsley (@robertshrimsley) November 4, 2021
David Lammy, the shadow justice secretary, has said the government’s U-turn over Commons standards is too late.
Too damn late! The public have seen the pigs at the trough and the level of outrage at the government’s odious arrogance is palpable.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) November 4, 2021
Owen Paterson: Government signals U-turn less than 24 hours after MPs block fellow Tory's suspensionhttps://t.co/N9UCr9XwB0
Tory MP Angela Richardson reinstated as PPS less than 24 hours after being dismissed for rebellion on Paterson vote
The Conservative MP Angela Richardson has been reinstated as PPS (parliamentary private secretary) to Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary. She was dismissed last night from the post after she abstained last night in the vote on the Owen Paterson motion, instead of voting for the Andrea Leadsom in line with the three-line whip.
Pleased to be reappointed to my role as PPS to Michael Gove. Busy department and work to get on with. #LevellingUp
— Angela Richardson MP (@AJRichardsonMP) November 4, 2021
In the Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, has granted an application for an emergency debate on the parliamentary standards system that will take place on Monday.
The application came from the Lib Dem chief whip, Wendy Chamberlain. She told MPs:
The government’s decision not just to meddle in an independent process but then to whip Conservative members to get what they wanted is one of the worst over-reaches of executive power that this house has seen in its history.
Dorries says she wants to speed up introducing of criminal sanctions for social media bosses under online safety bill
Social media executives could be held criminally liable for safety breaches on their platforms within months of the online safety bill coming into effect, Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, has said. As PA Media reports, Dorries made the disclosure in evidence to the committee considering the draft bill this morning. PA reports
Dorries told the committee that she wants to accelerate the introduction of personal liability sanctions for company managers to spark a faster response to the threat of online harms.
The draft bill includes personal criminal liability sanctions for executives which can be introduced two years after the implementation of the bill.
However, Dorries said it was “nonsense” to give firms two years to change, confirming she was looking at “three to six months” for criminal liability to be introduced.
“So, to the platforms, take note now - it will not be two years,” she told the committee.
“We are looking at truncating that to a very much shorter timeframe and that’s one of the areas as secretary of state I want to go further in this bill.
“I think it’s just a nonsense that platforms have been given two years to make themselves ready for what would be criminal action.
“They know what they’re doing now, they actually have the ability to put right what they’re doing wrong now, they have the ability now to abide by their own terms and conditions - they could remove harmful algorithms tomorrow.”
Under the current proposals, tech firms that fail to protect their users from harmful content face fines of up to 10% of their global turnover - which could run into billions of pounds for the largest platforms - as well as having access to their sites blocked.
During her evidence, Dorries also criticised Facebook’s recent company rebrand to Meta and its plans to work on the virtual world known as the metaverse, saying that while its boss Mark Zuckerberg and communications boss Nick Clegg want to “take off into the metaverse” they should instead “stay in the real world”.
She said: “Now I believe we heard that they’re [Facebook] putting 10 or 20,000 engineers on to the metaverse - put those 10 or 20,000 engineers now on to abiding by your terms and conditions and to removing your harmful algorithms because if you don’t, this bill will be watertight.”
Dorries also said the bill was “possibly the most important piece of legislation to pass through parliament” in her time as an MP, calling it a “novel” piece of legislations that was “groundbreaking” and “extremely important”.
Updated
Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow leader of the Commons, has issued a statement saying the government must schedule a vote on suspending Owen Paterson. She said:
The government’s pathetic attempt to hide from their actions doesn’t fix anything. Last night, they voted to allow corruption to take place unimpeded at the heart of British politics.
MPs must now vote to uphold the sanctions against Owen Paterson. Any other result will allow Boris Johnson to create one rule for Tory MPs, another for everyone else.
Bryant says it was “completely inappropriate” for Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, to effectively call for the resignation of Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, this morning. (See 9.27am.) He says she is very fair and very robust, and that he supports her 100%. He says he expects her to stay in post until her contract ends, in December next year.
Bryant says he has long been in favour of allowing MPs to make an appeal against the punishment proposed by the standards committee. But he says it is not clear who would hear that appeal.
Standards committee chair calls for new vote on suspending Owen Paterson on Monday
At the Institute for Government Chris Bryant, the chair of the Commons standards committee, is now taking part in a panel discussion, as part of its one-day conference on ethical standards in government.
Asked what should happen next in the Owen Paterson case, Bryant says there should be a vote in the Commons on Monday on the proposal to suspend him.
He says he thinks that may be what Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, was signalling in the Commons earlier, but he says he is not sure. (Rees-Mogg was being oblique on this issue.)
And he says what Rees-Mogg was saying to MPs earlier was the opposite of what he said in the debate yesterday. Perhaps Rees-Mogg did not understand the motion, Bryant suggests.
Here is my colleague Robert Booth’s story about the speech earlier by Lord Evans, chair of the committee on standards in public life.
And here is the full text of the speech.
MPs expected to get new vote on suspending Owen Paterson following government U-turn
On Sky News Sam Coates says he has been briefed that the government is now planning to get MPs to vote on a new motion on Owen Paterson, proposing that he should be suspended for 30 days (as the standards committee recommended). This time it would be expected to pass.
NEW: There WILL be a vote, probably before recess, on Owen Paterson being suspended for 30 days
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) November 4, 2021
This is a "full fat" uturn, I understand
According to the Telegraph’s Tony Diver, Paterson may have miscalculated with a hubristic media round yesterday. This seems to be a factor in No 10 deciding to cut him loose.
Feeling in gvt is that Owen Paterson's media round last night was far too strong and undermined the support Tories had given him yesterday.
— Tony Diver (@Tony_Diver) November 4, 2021
There is talk now of Paterson dealing with the lobbying allegations himself...by fighting a by-election to get a new mandate from voters.
That media round included an interview with the Daily Telegraph in which Paterson said that Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, and members of the standards committee should resign. He told the paper:
Sadly they have not done a good job and come up with a rotten report which is full of inaccuracies. As far as I’m concerned, they all have to go.
Updated
Chris Bryant, the Labour chair of the Commons standards committee, says parliament is in a “quagmire”. He suggests that one solutioin might be for his committee to produce a new report on Owen Paterson. He says he thinks it would say the same as the old one.
He also stresses the importance of using moderate languate, and expresses his regret about what happened to Peter Bone’s office. (See 11am.)
Rees-Mogg welcomes what Bryant said about the importance of using moderate language. But he suggests Bryant was not doing this himself in his Today interview this morning when he compared what happened in the Commons yesterday to something that might happen in Russia.
Referring to what happened yesterday, Bryant told Today: “That is not what we do in this country, that is what they do in Russia,” he said. “It’s a perversion of justice.”
Updated
Rees-Mogg says Commons standards rules should not be changed retrospectively
Peter Bone (Con) says he is not clear what is happening to the Owen Paterson case.
And he says this morning his office was vandalised because of his vote to support the government yesterday.
Rees-Mogg says that, while there support in the Commons for reforming the system, there is a strong feeling in the Commons that “this should not be based on single case or applied retrospectively”.
May I just reiterate what I said at the beginning of these proceedings, that while there are strong feelings on both sides of the house that there is a need for an appeal process, there is equally a strong feeling this should not be based on a single case or applied retrospectively. I fear last night’s debate conflated the individual case with the general concern, this link needs to be broken.
That implies that government may revert to supporting Paterson’s suspension.
Updated
Rees-Mogg says it would be “idle to pretend that there are not concerns about the [disciplinary system for MPs]”. But he says this must be done on a cross-party basis.
From LBC’s Ben Kentish
Government source: “We need a solution on finding an appeal system but the committee as voted for yesterday is unviable.”
— Ben Kentish (@BenKentish) November 4, 2021
No 10 ditches plan for new Tory-led committee to review Owen Paterson case, Rees-Mogg reveals
This is what Jacob Rees-Mogg told MPs about the partial U-turn in relation to the new committee being set up to consider reforms to the disciplinary process for MPs.
I am aware that last night’s vote has created a certain amount of controversy.
It is important that standards in this house are done on a cross-party basis.
The house voted very clearly yesterday to show that it is worried about the process of handling these complaints and that we would like an appeals system, but the change would need to be on a cross-party basis and that is clearly not the case.
While there is a very strong feeling on both sides of the house that there is a need for an appeals process, there is equally a strong feeling that this should not be based on a single case or apply retrospectively.
I fear last night’s debate conflated an individual case with the general concern. This link needs to be broken.
Therefore I and others will be looking to work on a cross-party basis to achieve improvements in our system for future cases.
We will bring forward more detailed proposals once there have been cross-party discussions.
Updated
In the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg is now responding to Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow leader of the Commons, who asked various questions about what is happening to the review of standards.
He says a committee cannot work without opposition members.
(Parliament voted yesterday to set up a new committee, chaired by John Whittingdale, to review the standards system. But Labour and the SNP said they would not take up their seats.)
Rees-Mogg says he hopes the opposition parties will not join in trying to set up a new system. He cites the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, which was set up to consider complaints about MPs mistreating their staff, as a possible model.
Rees-Mogg announces partial government climbdown over plans for overhaul of standards system
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, has just told MPs that yesterday’s vote mistakenly confused an individual case with the general argument about the need for reform. And he also said reforms to the disciplinary process for MPs needed to proceed on a cross-party basis.
He said the new committee being set up will not consider whether the Owen Paterson case needs to be reviewed.
He said the government will be bringing forward more detailed plans in future.
It is not clear yet what this means for Paterson.
Jacob Rees Mogg suggests a partial climbdown - wants to work within existing system on a cross party basis rather than junk it as Tories voted for last night.
— Sam Coates Sky (@SamCoatesSky) November 4, 2021
Also unclear what happening with Owen Paterson pic.twitter.com/qg2cMKMyoF
Kwarteng cites delivering Brexit as example of PM's commmitment to integrity and probity
In an interview on the Today programme this morning Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, was asked by Nick Robinson if he could name a single thing that Boris Johnson has done to deliver higher integrity and probity in public life. Kwarteng replied:
I could do lots of things. We had a manifesto commitment to deliver Brexit and we delivered Brexit. That was something which we promised to do and the prime minister led a government that delivered that. We’ve also made very explicit comments and commitments on climate change ...
Holding yourself to manifesto commitments and delivering those commitments is, I think, a feature of integrity.
Given the number of dubious promises made about Brexit, this was a reply that probably had remainers across the land hurling objects at the radio.
The government won the first vote on Owen Paterson by just 18 votes yesterday. But 27 Labour MPs did not vote, and it has been said that if they had, the government would have lost.
In an interview with Times Radio this morning Anneliese Dodds, the Labour party chair, said that all the MPs who did not vote had been paired, meaning that by agreement their non-vote would be matched by a Tory non-vote. She said the system is used for MPs who are unable to attend votes because they are either ill, self-isolating or have a family emergency. She went on:
That’s what happened with those Labour MPs. There’s not a single Labour MP who agrees with the course of action that this government is taking. Every single Labour MP voted against who was able to, and it was only those who were unable to vote who didn’t vote.
Back at the IfG, Lord Evans is asked if there should be a ban on MPs having paid jobs outside parliament.
Evans says the committee has not looked at this under his chairmanship. But it has looked at it in the past, and the committee decided there could be advantages in MPs having outside interests. He says he shares that view. But what is important is that being an MP should be their main job, and they should be transparent about their interests.
The Daily Mirror did not splash on the Owen Paterson vote this morning, but it carried an alternative story damaging to the PM. It says that Boris Johnson returned from the Cop26 conference in Glasgow to London by private jet on Tuesday evening - so that he could attend a reunion dinner for Daily Telegraph journalists at the Garrick club.
Thursday’s Mirror: “PM’s flying shame”#BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday https://t.co/MDbQzkMGE9 pic.twitter.com/i7q6lEz1Sf
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) November 3, 2021
There may be a link to the Paterson case too. One of the other guests at the dinner was Charles Moore, the former Telegraph editor made a peer by Johnson, who is a close personal friend of Paterson and who has been one of the journalists complaining most vigorously about the treatment of the M MP by the standards committee.
Standards watchdog says you would have to be 'extremely naive' to think Paterson vote was not 'politically motivated'
At the IfG Lord Evans is now taking questions.
Q: How damaging is the Paterson affair?
Evans says you only need to look at today’s front pages (see 9.27am) to see that it is damaging. He goes on:
People recognise this as an attack on standards. It’s not been presented in that way, but I think you’d have to be extremely naive to imagine that this was not a politically motivated set of decisions.
And on standards issues independence is key. Nobody should be able to make their their judgments on their own case. And this is a retrograde step in that regard.
Ministers and Downing Street have, of course, repeatedly denied that there was any partisan element to the vote yesterday. They are said that they were motivated by a desire to improve the process by which complaints against MPs are investigated and they have implied that the fact that this also involved shelving the suspension of Tory former cabinet minister (which it did not have to - MPs could have approved his punishment, and reviewed the system seperately) was a mere coincidence.
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Paterson vote 'very damaging' for parliament, says standards watchdog
At the start of his speech Lord Evans, chair of the committee on standards in public life, described yesterday’s Commons vote to shelve the proposed suspension of Owen Paterson for breaking lobbying rules as a “very serious and damaging moment” for parliament. He said:
Yesterday’s vote on the report of the Commons standards sommittee was a very serious and damaging moment for parliament and for public standards in this country.
It cannot be right that MPs should reject after one short debate the conclusions of the independent commissioner for standards and the House of Commons committee on standards, conclusions that arose from an investigation lasting two years.
It cannot be right to propose an overhaul of the entire regulatory system in order to postpone or prevent sanctions in a very serious case of paid lobbying by an MP.
At the Institute for Government Lord Evans, the former MI5 boss who is now chair of the committee on standards in public life, has just started giving a speech at a one-day conference on ethical standards in government. There is a live stream here.
Earlier this month the committee published a report calling for rules to be tightened in various areas, including in relation to the ministerial code. But Downing Street ruled out giving more power to adviser on ministerial standards, who investigates breaches of the code.
Dominic Cummings, who was Boris Johnson’s chief adviser at No 10 until November last year and who is now a vitriolic critic of his former boss, has tweeted this morning to say that he believes yesterday’s vote was intended to remove Kathryn Stone as parliamentary commissioner for standards, as Kwasi Kwarteng’s interview this morning implied. (See 9.27am.) Cummings claims that Johnson is worried that a Stone investigation into the way donations were used to fund the refurbishment of Johnson’s No 10 flat will show he broke the rules.
Part of the point of yesterday is the removal of K Stone. Most media ignored S Walters stories re Carrie's wallpaper/PM's illegal donations cos Carrie hands out so many leaks/exclusives. Yesterday was really about the PM & his own lies re illegal £ not OP
— Dominic Cummings (@Dominic2306) November 4, 2021
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Commons standards commissioner should resign, suggests business secretary
Good morning. The news at Westminster is still dominated by the repurcussions from yesterday’s Tory vote that effectively shelved the anti-sleaze processes that have been in place for MPs since the cash-for-questions scandal in the 1990s, and the newspapers make grim reading for No 10. Here are some of the front pages.
Thursday’s Mail: “Shameless MPs sink back into sleaze”#BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday https://t.co/0Zo6USUAgt pic.twitter.com/DDsjmNav04
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) November 3, 2021
Thursday’s i: “Tories rip up Britain’s anti-sleaze rules to save guilty MP"#BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday https://t.co/kTLrYPYDF9 pic.twitter.com/sBSh1flqrt
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) November 3, 2021
Thursday’s Guardian: “PM accused of corruption as rules on sleaze torn up”#BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday https://t.co/69tlWqmjGp pic.twitter.com/Ry1lmcGX0a
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) November 3, 2021
Thursday’s Times: “Tories rebel over vote to block MP’s suspension”#BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday https://t.co/bTRhknunKR pic.twitter.com/1N3ST80SA8
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) November 3, 2021
This morning Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, has been doing the broadcast interview round for Downing Street and he has taken the government’s offensive against the current standards regime one step further, suggesting that Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, should resign.
Stone carried out the investigation that concluded that Owen Paterson broke lobbying rules. Her conclusions were backed up by the standards committee. She also earlier this year produced a report saying Boris Johnson broke the MPs’ code of conduct in relation to the way he registered his holiday in Mustique, although on that occasion the standards committee concluded, on the basis of supplementary evidence, that Johnson was in the clear. Given that she is now considering a further inquiry into the funding of Johnson’s flat refurbishment, it is not hard to see why No 10 would want her gone – although yesterday she indicated that she plans to remain in post until her term of office is up in December next year.
Asked whether Stone should resign, Kwarteng told Sky News:
I think it’s difficult to see what the future of the commissioner is, given the fact that we’re reviewing the process, and we’re overturning and trying to reform this whole process, but it’s up to the commissioner to decide her position.
Asked what he meant by “decide her position”, Kwarteng said:
It’s up to her to do that. I mean, it’s up to anyone where they’ve made a judgment and people have sought to change that, to consider their position, that’s a natural thing, but I’m not saying she should resign.
“I’m not saying she should resign,” Kwarteng claimed. But it sounded very much as if he was, and that is how Labour interpreted his answers. After the interview, Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow leader of the Commons, said Kwarteng’s comment was “appalling” and further evidence of government corruption. She said:
Having already ripped up the rules policing MP’s behaviour to protect one of their own, it is appalling that this corrupt government is now trying to bully the standards commissioner out of her job.
Boris Johnson must immediately distance himself from these latest attempts to poison British politics. And all decent people of all political beliefs must stand against these naked attempts by Tory MPs to avoid scrutiny of their behaviour.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Lord Evans, the chair of the committee on standards in public life, gives a speech at an Institute for Government conference on ethical standards in government. At 10.30am Chris Bryant, chair of the Commons standards committee, and Lord Pickles, chair of the advisory committee on business appointments, take part in a panel discussion.
9.30am: Ministers at Cop26 make announcements on phasing out coal. There will be full coverage on our separate Cop26 live blog.
9.45am: Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, gives evidence to the committee on the draft online safety bill.
10am: Claudia Webbe MP is sentenced after being found guilty of harassment.
10.30am: Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, takes questions in the chamber on next week’s business.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
12pm: Nicola Sturgeon takes first minister’s questions in the Scottish parliament.
Also today Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, is in Paris for talks with the French Europe minister Clement Beaune.
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