Friday, April 21, 2023
Sunak's indecision strengthens the case for independent arbiter
Welsh Liberal Democrats have long made the case for those policing the ministerial code to be independent of the First Minister, and the same argument applies to all the UK's Parliaments.
It's just that whichever party happens to be running the show, in whatever country, whether it is Labour, Tory or the SNP won't allow it, because they don't want to lose control of the governmental process, no matter how badly ministers have behaved.
The Dominic Raab bullying case is yet another example of a Prime Minister being reluctant to sacrifice a colleague, despite allegedly damning evidence suggesting that he should do. Once more we have those representing possible victims calling for things to be done differently.
The Guardian reports that senior Whitehall staff are said to want the prime minister to allow an independent organisation to assess claims of wrongdoing against ministers. These calls follow repeated disappointments in the grievance procedures against ministers in government workplaces:
The prime minister alone will decide whether his deputy and justice secretary broke the ministerial code, after multiple complaints about Raab were made across three ministerial departments.
Under the bullying inquiry’s terms and conditions, the independent investigator Adam Tolley KC will only “establish the specific facts” surrounding the claims, which Sunak will then rule on.
The former home secretary Priti Patel was allowed to keep her job by Boris Johnson despite a formal inquiry finding evidence she had bullied her staff.
Jawad Raza, an FDA national officer who represents senior civil servants in the MoJ and parliament, said a new, fully independent process must be established if trust is to be rebuilt across Whitehall.
“At present, the prime minister has to give permission for an investigation into a minister to commence and then pass judgment on the facts.
“Can he really be a fully independent arbiter, especially when it is someone who has political value to him?
“In this case, the PM is being asked to pass judgment on a close political ally. It needs to be changed,” he said.
Raza said the process should be overhauled, and pointed to the establishment in parliament of an independent grievance scheme in 2018, after allegations of harassment and bullying against MPs.
“Our members want to have confidence in the mechanism, have the ability to raise a concern and know that they can have confidence in that process and for that process to be looked at independently.
“In the House of Commons, MPs once sat in judgment over one another, but we now have an independent complaints and grievance scheme.
“If there is an investigation in parliament and a case to answer then the independent expert panel would look at that.
“Ultimately, that has stopped MPs being able to mark their own homework.
There needs to be a similar option for civil servants complaining against ministers,” he said.
This is a change that is long overdue.
The Dominic Raab bullying case is yet another example of a Prime Minister being reluctant to sacrifice a colleague, despite allegedly damning evidence suggesting that he should do. Once more we have those representing possible victims calling for things to be done differently.
The Guardian reports that senior Whitehall staff are said to want the prime minister to allow an independent organisation to assess claims of wrongdoing against ministers. These calls follow repeated disappointments in the grievance procedures against ministers in government workplaces:
The prime minister alone will decide whether his deputy and justice secretary broke the ministerial code, after multiple complaints about Raab were made across three ministerial departments.
Under the bullying inquiry’s terms and conditions, the independent investigator Adam Tolley KC will only “establish the specific facts” surrounding the claims, which Sunak will then rule on.
The former home secretary Priti Patel was allowed to keep her job by Boris Johnson despite a formal inquiry finding evidence she had bullied her staff.
Jawad Raza, an FDA national officer who represents senior civil servants in the MoJ and parliament, said a new, fully independent process must be established if trust is to be rebuilt across Whitehall.
“At present, the prime minister has to give permission for an investigation into a minister to commence and then pass judgment on the facts.
“Can he really be a fully independent arbiter, especially when it is someone who has political value to him?
“In this case, the PM is being asked to pass judgment on a close political ally. It needs to be changed,” he said.
Raza said the process should be overhauled, and pointed to the establishment in parliament of an independent grievance scheme in 2018, after allegations of harassment and bullying against MPs.
“Our members want to have confidence in the mechanism, have the ability to raise a concern and know that they can have confidence in that process and for that process to be looked at independently.
“In the House of Commons, MPs once sat in judgment over one another, but we now have an independent complaints and grievance scheme.
“If there is an investigation in parliament and a case to answer then the independent expert panel would look at that.
“Ultimately, that has stopped MPs being able to mark their own homework.
There needs to be a similar option for civil servants complaining against ministers,” he said.
This is a change that is long overdue.
