The Speaker steps into the Paterson aftermath. He’s to set up an independent review of the Standards Committee – which may bring in a new appeals procedure
Later, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, will lay out his plans to “protect the integrity” of parliament. He is expected to bring forward proposals to set up an independent review of the parliamentary standards committee. It is understood that retired clerks may be approached to lead the review after Lord Evans of Weardale, the former head of MI5 and chairman of the committee on standards in public life, was ruled out of the running. The new committee will examine proposals, thought to have the support of most MPs, to introduce an appeals process for members found to have breached the rules.” – Sunday Times
- Labour, the SNP, the Liberal Democrats and the Green party “switch focus to the award of pandemic contracts” – Observer
- Starmer writes to Appointments Committee to urge them to refuse Paterson the peerage that he may never be offered – Observer
- MPs could be banned from second jobs as consultants – Sunday Telegraph
- Calls for investigation over cash threats over Paterson votes claims – Sunday Times
- Conservative Party Treasurers get peerages – Sunday Times
- Number Ten hits back at Major – Mail on Sunday
- North Shropshire vox pop – Sunday Telegraph
- Cameron firm Zahawi meeting offer claim – Sunday Times
- Ann Jenkin e-mail exchange with Rose Paterson before suicide – Mail on Sunday
- Irish police arrest man who made death threat to female Labour MP – Mail on Sunday
It’s inter-generational war in the Conservative Parliamentary Party
“MPs from the Red Wall seats – former Labour bastions which fell to the Tories for the first time in 2019 – have been exchanging bitter messages on their WhatsApp groups about the ‘arrogance’ of the Spartans and Mr Johnson’s failure to avert the disaster…In Government, blame for the fiasco is being placed at the feet of Mr Rees-Mogg, Chief Whip Mark Spencer and No 10 Political Secretary Declan Lyons…The saga has renewed familiar calls for ‘more grey hair’ in No 10 and the appointment of ‘a Willie Whitelaw figure’ – Margaret Thatcher’s seasoned Deputy – who can ‘horizon scan’ for problems and deter Mr Johnson from making any more ill-fated decisions.” – Mail on Sunday
- Tim Loughton, Whittingdale, Green, Fallon, Soames and Hague touted as Number Ten enforcer – Sun on Sunday
Tobias Ellwood: Is this Johnson’s Britain or Orban’s Hungary?
“Tory MP Owen Paterson had been given a 30-day suspension by a Parliamentary committee for breaking lobbying rules. And the Government thought it acceptable to overrule the punishment and rewrite the rules. If this happened in Poland or Hungary, we would not be surprised. But in Britain? How frequently we describe Westminster as the Mother of all Parliaments, a beacon of democracy. Yet here we were – a brazen attempt to rewrite the rules that, at one capricious moment, we didn’t like. I could not find a single MP of my intake and above who thought this was good politics. But the three-line voting whip was enforced, with jobs threatened for those on the ministerial payroll.” – Sun on Sunday
- It’s not just MPs who do no wrong. We all lie to ourselves – Matthew Syed
- We need a proper right of recall – Daniel Hannan, Sunday Telegraph
- Johnson has only himself to blame – Dan Hodges, Mail on Sunday
- Relax, Tories: no-one much will vote Labour – Rod Liddle, Sunday Times
- The Government reeks of corruption – Sunday Times Editorial
- Listen to Middle Britain – Mail on Sunday Editorial
- Humbled Johnson has to listen and learn – Sun on Sunday Editorial
> Yesterday: ToryDiary – Did the Treasury seek to punish dissident backbenchers by withholding cash from their seats?
Tim Shipman: Johnson has made progress at COP26 but may not reach his destination
“After downplaying expectations for months, the government has delivered some success in all four “baskets”. Leaders from more than 120 countries, covering 88 per cent of the world’s forests, agreed to end and reverse deforestation. More than 100 countries agreed to cut their emissions of methane by 30 per cent by 2030. A $100 billion fund to help developing countries move from fossil fuels to green energy, that was supposed to be working by 2020, will at least be in place by 2022 or 2023. Most strikingly, more than 40 countries made commitments for the first time to phase out coal power, including five of the world’s top 20 coal power-using countries…But the success of the summit still hangs in the balance. By next weekend, the negotiators…aim to reach agreement on more than 200 pages of text to govern how all countries are keeping their climate commitments” – Sunday Times
Steve Hilton: The summit is a mess. Yes, I know what you’re thinking. But I said “Vote Blue, Go Green”. Not “Vote Blue, Go Dumb”.
“Yes, I know what you’re thinking: ‘Vote Blue, Go Green.’ ‘Hug-a-Husky.’ Wasn’t the environmental agenda at the heart of David Cameron’s bid to ‘modernise’ the Conservative Party? And wasn’t I, as his special adviser in No 10, at the heart of that? Well, yes. But the slogan wasn’t ‘Vote Blue, Go Dumb’. I’m all for sensible policies that help protect the environment – just like pretty much every Conservative I know. We love nature and understand and respect it a lot more than many of the Left-wing crusaders whose idea of the natural world is a pot plant on their balcony, and who need an app on their phone to tell the difference between an oak tree and a silver birch.” – Mail on Sunday
- Our Green Queen has turned me against this Royal Family – Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday
- Hydrogen will get us to Net Zero – Liam Halligan, Sunday Telegraph
- Moralising doom-laden COP26 reporting – Janet Daley, Sunday Telegraph
> Today: ToryDiary – Snap guide to this session’s Government legislation 13) Environment Bill
Government “working on plans to withdraw from three major EU programmes” as Article 16 decision looms
“Britain is working on plans to withdraw from three major EU research programmes, which would see Brussels denied up to £15 billion funding. Amid deteriorating relations with Brussels, the Government has commenced work on domestic alternatives should the UK pull the plug on Horizon Europe, Copernicus and Euratom. They are the bloc’s €90 billion (£77 billion) flagship scientific, satellite, and nuclear programmes, which the UK agreed to remain part of when it signed the Brexit trade deal last year. It suggests that ministers are actively drawing up measures to mitigate retaliatory options open to the European Commission, should Britain be forced to trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol in the coming weeks.” – Sunday Telegraph
- Zenmour v Macron over UK and fishing – Sun on Sunday
- Our future is with Asia: Team Truss briefs the Express – Sunday Express
- We need to live with our European neighbours and they need to live with us – Rob Colvile, Sunday Times
- Triggering Article 16 is hardly the nuclear option – Ruth Dudley-Edwards, Sunday Telegraph
- Don’t delay fixing the Protocol – Sunday Telegraph Editorial
> Yesterday: MPsETC – Caine’s appointment reinstalls the Northern Ireland Office’s institutional political memory
Raab wants to stop quarrelling couples clogging up the courts
“Dominic Raab, the justice secretary, wants mediation to be the default process for divorce cases to stop warring couples clogging up the family courts system. Raab, who is also deputy prime minister, is keen to introduce new “incentives and disincentives” to “spare children the trauma of seeing their parents fight it out in court”. Raab believes too many parents are overwhelming the overstretched courts system with claims motivated by personal revenge rather than the children’s best interests. He believes making mediation the default would free up judges to deal with serious cases, such as those concerning domestic abuse.” – Sunday Times
Williamson legacy will ensure that “outstanding” schools are regularly inspected
“Hundreds of England’s most sought-after schools will be stripped of their “outstanding” rating as ministers push for a rise in standards to compensate for the months of learning lost to the pandemic. Amanda Spielman, head of the watchdog Ofsted, said her team had begun a programme of inspections at schools with the highest grade. She expects the number of England’s “outstanding” schools to fall from 4,133, about one in five, to roughly 2,000, about the same as in 2010. The rules were changed last year by Gavin Williamson, who was then the education secretary, to ensure that “outstanding” schools were inspected regularly, just like any others.” – Sunday Times
Other political news
- “Tests and quarantine for those who refuse third Covid jab” – Mail on Sunday
- Shapps “blocks Covid ads on public transport – Sunday Telegraph
- Hunt calls for coroners to have powers to investigate stillbirths – Mail on Sunday
- BBC licence fee may be frozen for two years – Sunday Telegraph
- Baker, Hayes and Gerard Lyons take aim at Bank of England Governor – Mail on Sunday
- Patel accuses Labour of siding with people traffickers – Sun on Sunday
- Sultana forced to apologise after attending a rally calling the police “assassins” – Mail on Sunday
- Why I shook hands with the Taliban – Tobias Ellwood, Mail on Sunday
- My new book on the Falklands War, 40 years on, that honours the heroism of our armed forces – Lord Ashcroft, Mail on Sunday