Saturday, November 06, 2021
Who was the 'useful idiot'?
The consensus now forming around the Owen Paterson affair is that the whole battle to exonorate the former MP and disband the standards regime that found him to be in breach of the normal rules governing public life was actually a proxy war to save the Prime Minister from further inquiries.
The Independent reports that Boris Johnson is facing the prospect of two fresh sleaze inquiries into his own behaviour, as signs grow that his botched attempt to save a senior Tory MP from punishment for paid lobbying has shaken his authority within his own party.
The paper says that Labour has demanded a probe by Commons standards commissioner Kathryn Stone into Mr Johnson’s failure to declare a freebie holiday in Spain, as the guest of recently ennobled Zac Goldsmith, in the MPs’ register of interests, as Downing Street refused to reveal the value of the luxury break.
At the same time they say the party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, has written wrote to Ms Stone urging her not to allow pressure from the PM to deter her from launching a delayed inquiry into the funding of his Downing Street flat refurbishment at a reported cost of £200,000:
Mr Johnson’s abortive attempt earlier this week to establish a Tory-dominated committee to rewrite the Commons standards procedures was “a blatant attempt to prevent the commissioner from investigating his latest breaches of the rules”, said Ms Rayner.
“It is absolutely vital that the parliamentary commissioner for standards is now able to conduct this investigation without any further attempts by the prime minister to block this investigation, override or abolish the commissioner or the standards committee, and the bullying, threats and intimidation from Conservative ministers must stop immediately.”
Mr Johnson’s former top adviser Dominic Cummings has described Wednesday’s attempt to get former minister Owen Paterson off the hook as a “pre-emptive strike” against Ms Stone. Today he urged her to call witnesses to answer questions on the flat funding, saying: “The Electoral Commission – like [Downing Street ethics adviser Lord] Geidt – has so far interviewed NONE of the people who know/involved in PM’s illegal secret donations”.
After business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng came under fire for suggesting that it was “difficult to see a future” for the independent commissioner, Downing Street said that Mr Johnson accepted Ms Stone should not be put under political pressure.
Asked if the PM would condemn any MP trying to put pressure on her to drop the complaint, initially made by Margaret Hodge in April, the spokesperson said: “Obviously we wouldn’t want to see that happening.”
There are so many choices to designate as, what intelligence people call, a 'useful idiot' in this campaign by Number 10 to distract from and parry complaints against Johnson, that it is difficult to say who should emerge with the prize. Shpuld it be the hapless Paterson himself, the chief whip or the 250 Tory MPs who trotted through the lobbies in support of the scheme? It is little wonder that the affair has cost the Prime Minister support within his parliamentary party:
The developments came amid indications of a growing mood of assertiveness among the younger 2019 intake of Tory MPs, who have largely been loyal to the PM after being elected on the back of his popular “Get Brexit Done” campaign but have been infuriated by his mishandling of the Paterson affair.
“We were dragooned into trying to save the skin of someone who probably wouldn’t recognise us in the corridor,” said the MP. “We are flexing our muscles now and we are not going to take any more of this nonsense from the old guard.”
There were calls for the dismissal of chief whip Mark Spencer, with one MP saying that “his authority is not there any more” after the humiliating U-turn, which saw MPs subjected to a three-line whip on Wednesday, only to see the government about-turn just 19 hours later. One of the 2019 intake – Guildford’s Angela Richardson – was sacked as a parliamentary aide for defying the whip, only to be reinstated the following morning when the government’s position changed.
Another MP said she had been “flung under a bus for one man”, and asked “Was it worth it?” And another criticised “huge party mismanagement” by the whips. Reports suggested that a member of the 2019 intake confronted Paterson to his face with a four-letter rebuke as they went through the voting lobby.
York Outer MP Julian Sturdy said: “I cannot avoid being critical of the government, who reassured backbenchers that there was a clear plan for reform, yet subsequently turned the matter into a party-line debate. Reform of the Committee on Standards is needed, but I pledge not to support any reforms that do not bring all sides of the house together, as we need to build a fair system that not only has the support of MPs but the confidence of the public also.”
Downing Street failed to deny claims that MPs had been told government funding for their constituencies could be at risk if they defied the whip. And a No 10 spokesperson was forced to insist that Mr Spencer, along with leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg, a driving force behind the plan to save Paterson, continued to enjoy the prime minister’s “full confidence”.
The real idiot in this whole affair could prove to be Boros Johnson.
The Independent reports that Boris Johnson is facing the prospect of two fresh sleaze inquiries into his own behaviour, as signs grow that his botched attempt to save a senior Tory MP from punishment for paid lobbying has shaken his authority within his own party.
The paper says that Labour has demanded a probe by Commons standards commissioner Kathryn Stone into Mr Johnson’s failure to declare a freebie holiday in Spain, as the guest of recently ennobled Zac Goldsmith, in the MPs’ register of interests, as Downing Street refused to reveal the value of the luxury break.
At the same time they say the party’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, has written wrote to Ms Stone urging her not to allow pressure from the PM to deter her from launching a delayed inquiry into the funding of his Downing Street flat refurbishment at a reported cost of £200,000:
Mr Johnson’s abortive attempt earlier this week to establish a Tory-dominated committee to rewrite the Commons standards procedures was “a blatant attempt to prevent the commissioner from investigating his latest breaches of the rules”, said Ms Rayner.
“It is absolutely vital that the parliamentary commissioner for standards is now able to conduct this investigation without any further attempts by the prime minister to block this investigation, override or abolish the commissioner or the standards committee, and the bullying, threats and intimidation from Conservative ministers must stop immediately.”
Mr Johnson’s former top adviser Dominic Cummings has described Wednesday’s attempt to get former minister Owen Paterson off the hook as a “pre-emptive strike” against Ms Stone. Today he urged her to call witnesses to answer questions on the flat funding, saying: “The Electoral Commission – like [Downing Street ethics adviser Lord] Geidt – has so far interviewed NONE of the people who know/involved in PM’s illegal secret donations”.
After business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng came under fire for suggesting that it was “difficult to see a future” for the independent commissioner, Downing Street said that Mr Johnson accepted Ms Stone should not be put under political pressure.
Asked if the PM would condemn any MP trying to put pressure on her to drop the complaint, initially made by Margaret Hodge in April, the spokesperson said: “Obviously we wouldn’t want to see that happening.”
There are so many choices to designate as, what intelligence people call, a 'useful idiot' in this campaign by Number 10 to distract from and parry complaints against Johnson, that it is difficult to say who should emerge with the prize. Shpuld it be the hapless Paterson himself, the chief whip or the 250 Tory MPs who trotted through the lobbies in support of the scheme? It is little wonder that the affair has cost the Prime Minister support within his parliamentary party:
The developments came amid indications of a growing mood of assertiveness among the younger 2019 intake of Tory MPs, who have largely been loyal to the PM after being elected on the back of his popular “Get Brexit Done” campaign but have been infuriated by his mishandling of the Paterson affair.
“We were dragooned into trying to save the skin of someone who probably wouldn’t recognise us in the corridor,” said the MP. “We are flexing our muscles now and we are not going to take any more of this nonsense from the old guard.”
There were calls for the dismissal of chief whip Mark Spencer, with one MP saying that “his authority is not there any more” after the humiliating U-turn, which saw MPs subjected to a three-line whip on Wednesday, only to see the government about-turn just 19 hours later. One of the 2019 intake – Guildford’s Angela Richardson – was sacked as a parliamentary aide for defying the whip, only to be reinstated the following morning when the government’s position changed.
Another MP said she had been “flung under a bus for one man”, and asked “Was it worth it?” And another criticised “huge party mismanagement” by the whips. Reports suggested that a member of the 2019 intake confronted Paterson to his face with a four-letter rebuke as they went through the voting lobby.
York Outer MP Julian Sturdy said: “I cannot avoid being critical of the government, who reassured backbenchers that there was a clear plan for reform, yet subsequently turned the matter into a party-line debate. Reform of the Committee on Standards is needed, but I pledge not to support any reforms that do not bring all sides of the house together, as we need to build a fair system that not only has the support of MPs but the confidence of the public also.”
Downing Street failed to deny claims that MPs had been told government funding for their constituencies could be at risk if they defied the whip. And a No 10 spokesperson was forced to insist that Mr Spencer, along with leader of the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg, a driving force behind the plan to save Paterson, continued to enjoy the prime minister’s “full confidence”.
The real idiot in this whole affair could prove to be Boros Johnson.
