Boris Johnson set to give evidence to privileges committee’s Partygate inquiry at 2pm on Wednesday next week
Boris Johnson is set to give evidence to the Commons privileges committee about claims he misled parliament over Partygate at 2pm on Wednesday next week, PA Media reports.
The hearing, like almost all select committee hearings, will be televised. It is expected to be one of the most widely watched committee appearances for years.
In a recent report the committee set out the evidence against Johnson. It said, although Johnson told MPs that all Covid rules were followed in Downing Street, “the evidence “strongly suggests that breaches of guidance would have been obvious to Mr Johnson at the time he was at the gatherings”.
Key events
Lopez tells MPs there was ‘no pressure applied to BBC by ministers’ over Gary Lineker
Lopez says there was “no pressure applied to the BBC by ministers” over Gary Lineker.
Sir Bill Cash (Con) says the BBC social media guidelines do not work. He says an adjudication body should be set up, alongside Ofcom, to consider complaints about it.
Lopez says he looks forward to engaging with Cash further on his ideas in this area.
Sammy Wilson (DUP) says people should no longer have to pay the licence fee. It is a “poll tax on propaganda”, he says.
Lopez says the government is concerned the licence fee is losing public support. It is considering how the BBC should be funded in the long term.
Andrew Percy (Con) says Lucy Powell should reflect on her comparision of the government to Putin’s regime. Putin is engaged in war crimes, he says. He says that was “beneath her”.
He also says Gary Lineker’s comparison of the government’s asylum language to Nazi language was disgraceful.
Lopez agrees on both points. Referring to what Powell said, she say that was a “disgraceful comparison to make”, and “way off the mark”.
In response to Lucy Powell, Julia Lopez said that Tim Davie, the BBC director general, said himself yesterday that it was not true to say that the corporation suspended Gary Lineker in response to political pressure.
Labour’s Lucy Powell says suspension of Gary Lineker for anti-government tweet like something from ‘Putin’s Russia’
Lucy Powell, the shadow culture secretary, is asking her supplementary question now.
She says ministers have got their “fingerprints all over” the BBC’s decision to suspend Gary Lineker.
She says the BBC capitulated to “a Tory cancel campaign” and took Gary Lineker off air. She goes on:
What does [Lopez] think it looks like to the outside world – that a much-loved sports presenter is taken off air for tweeting something that government doesn’t like. It sounds more like Putin’s Russia so me.
Powell says Richard Sharp, the BBC chairman, no longer has credibility.
And she urges Lopez to “call off the dogs” behind her who are attacking the BBC’s integrity.
UPDATE: Powell said:
Her government has pursued a deliberate strategy of undermining the BBC to keep it over a barrel to get themselves more coverage.
It was on full display overnight and I’m sure it will be on full display here today. Threaten the licence fee, cut its funding, undermine its credibility. All in pursuit in keeping their foot on the BBC’s throat.
Culture minister Julia Lopez tells MPs it is for BBC, not government, to decide how it implements impartiality
In the Commons the HS2 UQ is now over, and Julia Lopez, a culture minister, is responding to the UQ on BBC impartiality.
She says the BBC’s first purpose is to provide accurate and impartial news to people.
The BBC is also independent, she says. That means the government has no say in how the BBC chooses to implement its impartiality obligations.
She says the regulator has accepted that implementing impartiality is challenging.
She says the BBC is respected around the world. No other country has anything like it. The government is clear it must emphasis accuracy, impartiality and diversity of views.
Sturgeon launches memorial book scheme for parents who want to commemorate loss of baby before 24 weeks
Nicola Sturgeon has announced that the Scottish government will set up a voluntary memorial book scheme for parents who want to commemorate the loss of a baby before 24 weeks. In a statement, the first minister said her personal experience of miscarriage had taught her how valuable this might be for some parents. She said:
The loss of a pregnancy or a baby is always painful. I have spoken in the past about my personal experience of miscarriage, and I know the sense of grief will stay with me and my husband forever. I also know that we would have drawn comfort at the time if there had been a way for us to mark the loss and formally recognise the child we were grieving.
Launching this memorial book with the National Records of Scotland will give parents an opportunity – if they wish it – to commemorate their loss with a physical record, and to have their child recognised.
Asylum seekers win permission for Rwanda policy legal challenge
A court of appeal judge has ruled that a group of asylum seekers can bring a legal challenge against the Home Office for what they claim has been a failure to consider the dangers and risks of deporting them to Rwanda, my colleague Diane Taylor reports.
Ofcom chief says BBC right to review its social media guidelines for presenters
Dame Melanie Dawes, the chief executive of Ofcom, the media regulator, has said the BBC is right to review its guidelines for the use of social media by staff and contributors.
Giving evidence to the Commons culture committee this morning, she said the social media guidelines were a matter for the BBC, not Ofcom. But she said the BBC was right to reconsider them in the light of the row about Gary Lineker, the freelance presenter of Match of the Day, criticising the government’s asylum policy, and its rhetoric about migrants, on Twitter.
She told the MPs:
I think they’re right to look at it again. There is ambiguity in there. I think that was probably designed to give a degree of flexibility.
I think it’s fair to say that it didn’t achieve what they wanted. But I think this is a difficult issue for them, I don’t think this is going to be straightforward, and to some extent is going to be about a level of trust, particularly with their staff.
All organisations face this to some degree or another about what they require of the people who work for them and the safeguards that they expect people to operate when they’re using social media.
But when it’s about freelancers, actors, other presenters and contributors for the BBC, clearly it’s a slightly different question and I think they need to be weighing freedom of expression alongside the wider reputation they have for impartiality.
The Commons privileges committee has now issued a press notice about its hearing next week with Boris Johnson. (See 1.01pm.) It says:
Mr Johnson has accepted the committee’s invitation to give oral evidence in public, and will be questioned by the committee from 14.00 on Wednesday 22 March.
The session, which will be held in public, will see the committee’s members, comprised of four Conservative, two Labour and one SNP member, question Mr Johnson on a range of matters arising from evidence submitted to its current inquiry, as set out in a report published 3 March. The committee has provided this summary to Mr Johnson at his request. It has produced it as a report to the house, pursuant to the committee’s commitment to transparency.
The committee has invited Mr Johnson to provide written evidence to the inquiry setting out his response, should he wish, in advance of the oral evidence session. Any such response will be published. The committee has disclosed all evidence submitted to the inquiry so far to Mr Johnson under secure conditions.
Labour says leaked DfT memo shows delaying HS2 will create extra costs and lead to some job losses
Labour has released details of the leaked memo from the Department for Transport that it says undermines what Mark Harper, the transport secretary, said about the decision to delay HS2. Harper said the delay would help the government to “balance the nation’s books”, but Labour says the leak shows the delay will push up costs.
The memo was written by a DfT official working on HS2. Here are the key points.
There will be some impacts on jobs and HS2 Ltd will need to consider how best to progress the various phases of the programme, but the government is continuing to prioritise delivery of Old Oak Common in London to Birmingham Curzon Street.
Additional costs will be created by deferring expenditure on the programme. The government will however look at doing things in the most cost-effective way. The department is transparent on cost pressures and publishes six-monthly parliamentary reports on HS2, setting out estimated cost ranges and progress updates on the programme. We will provide an update on any additional costs created by deferring expenditure.
We will need to rephase certain parts of the project to help balance the nation’s books. Like other construction projects, the programme has faced significant inflation. Therefore, to help manage the public purse, we are working with HS2 Ltd to reschedule delivery and reprofile costs for certain elements of the programme in a way that protects value for money for the taxpayer.
Commenting on the leak, Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, said:
Ministers ducked and dived from scrutiny – and now we know why.
This damaging leak blows apart their key claims to be saving taxpayers’ money.
Their plans will hit jobs, harm the north, and cost taxpayers even more – little wonder they refuse to be straight with the British public.
Thirteen years of Conservative failure is holding Britain back.
Boris Johnson set to give evidence to privileges committee’s Partygate inquiry at 2pm on Wednesday next week
Boris Johnson is set to give evidence to the Commons privileges committee about claims he misled parliament over Partygate at 2pm on Wednesday next week, PA Media reports.
The hearing, like almost all select committee hearings, will be televised. It is expected to be one of the most widely watched committee appearances for years.
In a recent report the committee set out the evidence against Johnson. It said, although Johnson told MPs that all Covid rules were followed in Downing Street, “the evidence “strongly suggests that breaches of guidance would have been obvious to Mr Johnson at the time he was at the gatherings”.
Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, says she has a leaked document from the transport secretary’s officials about the project.
Mark Harper, the transport secretary, told MPs that the project was being delayed to save costs, she says.
But the leaked memo says the delay itself will increase costs, she says.
She says the Conservatives cannot fix the problem because they are the problem.
In response, Merriman says he will not comment on leaked documents. But he says he is proud of what the government is doing on HS2.
UPDATE: Haigh said:
[Harper’s] chief justification for the delays to HS2 were to balance the nation’s books, but here his own department admit what he will not, that the delays itself will increase costs.
They admit it will cost jobs, that construction firms could go bust. They cannot rule out slashing high speed trains serving Stoke, Macclesfield and Stafford altogether.
They suggest it could terminate on the outskirts of London until 2041. Isn’t it time the minister came clean? This absurd plan will hit jobs, hurt growth, and cost taxpayers even more.
Even the government has lost faith in this government, and little wonder. Is there anything more emblematic of this failed government than their flagship levelling up project that neither makes it to the north or to central London?
Iain Stewart, the chair of the transport committee, is now asking his supplementary questions. He asks for more detail about what the delays will mean.
Merriman says the extra costs mostly relate to phase one construction, which is costing £600m per month. Construction inflation is running at 15%, which is why costs are going up.
He says the HS2 line between Birmingham and Old Oak Common in London should be ready by 2033.
He says the government will not proceed with construction at Euston over the next two years. But during this period it will look at the affordability of that scheme.
Huw Merriman, the rail minister, is responding to the UQ on HS2.
He starts by apologising for the way the news about the HS2 delay was released – in a written ministerial statement late in the afternoon on Thursday. Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, said MPs should have been told in a statement in the chamber.
And he says rising costs have led to the delay.
Tory chair Greg Hands apologises to cabinet secretary for CCHQ email accusing civil servants of obstructing ministers
Greg Hands, the Conservative party chair, has apologised for the fact CCHQ sent out an email to party supporters last week accusing civil servants of blocking government policy.
The email was sent out in the name of Suella Braverman, the home secretary, but she subsequently said she had not written it or approved it. It said:
We tried to stop the small boat crossings without changing our laws.
But an activist blob of leftwing lawyers, civil servants and the Labour party blocked us.
Following complaints from trade unions, Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, has revealed that Hands has apologised. In a letter to Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the PCS union, Case said:
You will have seen that the home secretary has been clear that she did not see, sign off or sanction the email.
She has also written to staff across the Home Office to thank them for their outstanding work on the illegal migration bill.
Furthermore, the home secretary has also made clear her gratitude to Home Office civil servants in her public interviews in recent days.
I have also spoken to the party chairman who apologised for the error.
He assured me that he has already taken action to change procedures in CCHQ to make sure that there is not a repeat of this incident.
Finally, the party chairman has also provided his assurance that attacks on the civil service are not part of any standard CCHQ lines.
Rishi Sunak has turned down an invitation to give evidence to the Commons European scrutiny committee about his Northern Ireland protocol deal. That is not surprising. The PM does not normally give evidence to ordinary select committees and he is giving evidence to the Commons liaison committee on Tuesday 28 March. But in a report out today the European scrutiny committee, chaired by Sir Bill Cash (Con), says it is “disappointed” that Sunak is giving them the cold shoulder.
