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Question
Reports raise serious concerns about the standards in this government, especially regarding the Chancellor's settlement with HMRC. Can the minister clarify if vetting processes raised flags and when exactly did the current Prime Minister know? Is there no system to prevent a person under tax investigation from being appointed?
Minister reply
The proper process was followed for Nadhim Zahawi’s appointment, including full disclosure of interests as required by the ministerial code. The independent adviser is investigating any potential conflicts and will publish findings in due course.
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Question
Should we maintain confidentiality about disclosures during the propriety and ethics process for government appointments?
Minister reply
Confidentiality is crucial to retain the integrity of the disclosure process. It ensures that individuals disclose everything necessary without fear of public scrutiny, which is essential for the process to remain meaningful.
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Question
The appointment of BBC chairman Richard Sharp involved a £600,000 loan arranged by Mr Sharp for Boris Johnson weeks before his appointment. Did the Cabinet Office ethics team advise stopping conversations about finances?
Minister reply
There was a robust pre-appointment hearing process for the BBC chair. The Commissioner for Public Appointments will verify that this process adhered to proper governance standards, and the chairman has invited discussions with the board to ensure all relevant conflicts were disclosed.
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Question
I am astonished, though I should not be, at the brass neck of the shadow Leader of the Opposition in suggesting that the Prime Minister did not need to ask his independent adviser about the matter when the Opposition spent months calling for an independent adviser to be appointed. Is my right hon. Friend the Minister aware of any plans that the independent adviser has to publish an updated list of ministerial interests?
Minister reply
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Opposition Members have been calling for an independent adviser for months. When one is appointed, it is not good enough; then they say that the Government should take all decisions by themselves, without all the facts. It is useful to have an independent adviser to deal with these issues when appropriate. I reassure my hon. Friend that my understanding is that the independent adviser plans to issue a publication on ministerial interests before his report in May.
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Question
The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, of which I am a member, is ready to help, and looks forward to meeting the new ethics adviser. The Prime Minister has said that there are questions to be answered. The Minister has been very careful to say that declaring interests under the ministerial code is up to the individual, which is correct. Did the Prime Minister know that the right hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon (Nadhim Zahawi) was due to be investigated?
Minister reply
The usual appointment process was undertaken, so the Prime Minister will have had the benefit of full disclosure of the interests that my right hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon declared when the Prime Minister appointed him chair of the Conservative party.
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Question
The Prime Minister correctly asked his independent adviser on ministers’ interests to establish the facts. Does my right hon. Friend agree that we must not prejudge the outcome, and should allow the process to conclude?
Minister reply
I agree. That is the purpose of having an independent adviser. He has been asked to investigate, and to work out exactly what the facts are. It would be ill-judged to make a decision before knowing all the facts that pertain.
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Question
I am sure that we all remember the Prime Minister’s first speech from Downing Street, in which he promised us ‘integrity, professionalism and accountability at every level.’ Unfortunately, we have seen precious little evidence of that so far. This weekend, yet more doubt has been heaped on the minds of the electorate, certainly in my constituency, as to whether they can trust politicians. Does the Minister accept that unless something is done very quickly about the vetting and management of conflicts of interest, further damage will be done to the British public’s confidence in this place?
Minister reply
We have the Nolan principles and the ministerial code. Both are extremely important documents, and extremely important approaches. The hon. Lady rightly refers to professionalism, but part of professionalism is being certain to take decisions based on all the facts. I know that she will respect the point that it is useful to have those facts established, but I concede that they should be established swiftly.
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Question
Does my right hon. Friend agree that under their bluster, what Opposition Members are really saying is that there are various questions to which they do not have the answer, and issues that they do not have the facts about, not least because His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs does not comment on people’s tax affairs? It is absolutely right that the independent adviser be allowed to collect and publish those facts, to set the record straight.
Minister reply
Indeed. I have absolutely no doubt that my right hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon will co-operate in every way with the independent adviser to make certain that all the facts are known. In due course, the independent adviser will come to his conclusions, and the summarised conclusions will be published.
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Question
The Prime Minister stood on the steps of No. 10 Downing Street and promised the nation that he would act with integrity, yet here we are again. Is this whole affair not yet more proof that there are far more likely to be conflicts of interest when we have a Government of the super-rich, for the super-rich?
Minister reply
I would never have guessed that I would get a question along those lines from the hon. Gentleman. The important thing, as the Prime Minister said, is integrity, accountability and professionalism. That is absolutely right; that absolutely underpins this Government. Part of that is about making certain that we have the facts—and that is what we are undertaking to do under the auspices of the independent adviser.
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Question
The ministerial code seems now to be a set of guidelines. This is starting to sound like a script for “Pirates of the Caribbean”. If someone has disclosed that they are in dispute with the Inland Revenue about their taxes, is it appropriate to appoint that person as Chancellor of the Exchequer? Surely the matter should have been resolved before such an appointment took place.
Minister reply
The hon. Gentleman will have to excuse me: I do not know what was disclosed, and nor does the hon. Gentleman. That is why we have an independent adviser making certain that we have the facts addressed.
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Question
The current chairman of the Conservative party went on television before he settled his tax debt and said that his tax affairs were “fully paid and up to date”. We now know that that statement was untrue, do we not?
Minister reply
I have a great deal of respect for the right hon. Gentleman, but he knows that I do not know the answer to that question—I genuinely do not. But I have no doubt that the work of the independent adviser will establish the facts and that that will be reported to the Prime Minister.
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Question
The challenge here for the Minister is that the original allegations arose in July of last year, publicly. Indeed, there was subsequent evidence that lawyers were instructed to try to suppress those allegations, well before any appointment was made by his political party, or indeed by the Prime Minister. The Minister talks about allegations arising this weekend. Whose due diligence was lacking: was it the Cabinet Office’s, was it the Conservative office’s, or are we just not being told the whole truth in this matter?
Minister reply
The full process would have been undergone, in terms of the appointment of my right hon. Friend the Member for Stratford-on-Avon to the Government as chairman of the Conservative party or his appointment to the Cabinet Office, when he was appointed by this Prime Minister. That was clearly in a period after the July commentary in the press. I do not know what was disclosed; I imagine that everything was disclosed, but that is a matter for the independent adviser to ascertain.
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Question
BBC journalists have to spend a great deal of their time defending the BBC’s impartiality and integrity from criticism from all sides in this country. How is their job made easier by the revelation that the current BBC chairman involved himself in the private financial affairs of the then Prime Minister before he was appointed to the job? That was something that, under civil service rules and BBC rules, they should both have disclosed to the independent Commissioner for Public Appointments, but apparently—according to the former commissioner Sir Peter Riddell—neither did.
Minister reply
My understanding is that my right hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) and the gentleman in question have both said that no financial advice was provided from one to the other. That is my understanding. I do know that the chairman of the BBC has invited the senior non-executive at the BBC to look into his disclosures to make certain that everything was done properly. That process will also be undertaken by William Shawcross as Commissioner for Public Appointments, to make certain that the process, which appeared to be an extremely robust one—indeed, it involved a grilling in front of the Select Committee, before the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw) and others—was absolutely consistent with the Government’s rules on these appointments.
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Question
Actually, the Minister is making an interesting point. Before the candidate appeared before the Select Committee, he had to fill in a questionnaire and answer the question, “Do you currently or potentially have a business, financial or non-pecuniary interest or commitment that might give rise to the perception of a conflict of interest if you are appointed?” Does the Minister agree that helping to arrange an £800,000 loan for the person ultimately responsible for the appointment was something that should have been declared in response to that question?
Minister reply
The hon. Gentleman is making a statement about helping to arrange a loan. I do not know the basis on which he makes that assertion, but I know that all matters to do with any conflicts of interest or perception of conflicts of interest will be looked at by the BBC under the process established by the chairman.
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Question
On Wednesday the Prime Minister stated that there were no outstanding issues. By the weekend, he had ordered an independent internal investigation. Can the Minister ensure that all the information that escalated this from “nothing to see” to an investigation of this kind is placed in the Library of the House?
Minister reply
What is absolutely the case is that a summary of the findings of the independent adviser and the outcome of that work will be shared with the House.
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Question
A person is 23 times more likely to be prosecuted for benefit irregularities than to be prosecuted for tax irregularities, but tax irregularities lose the economy nine times more. Have the Government any plans to redress that imbalance?
Minister reply
As I know from my work in the Cabinet Office, there is a huge focus across Government on ensuring that we go after tax evasion in all its forms. It is incredibly important that we do so and that we cut waste across Government, particularly when it results from fraudulent behaviour. That is what we do every day, and HMRC is responsible for following it up and making certain that people pay the tax that is owed.
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Question
He is hearing from constituents that they are tired of stories about tax irregularities, cheating and fraud involving the self-serving elite. He notes that faith in politics and the BBC has declined due to these revelations, and that this will only be resolved once the Conservative party leaves government.
Minister reply
The Minister disagrees with the tone taken by the hon. Gentleman and supports the valuable organisation of the BBC. He suggests it is unfortunate to make allegations about the BBC as a whole based on disputed facts.
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Question
Are any other Ministers currently in dispute with HMRC regarding their tax arrangements?
Minister reply
Ministers are required to go through the proper process under the ministerial code. This involves full disclosure of conflicts of interest or perceived conflicts of interest.
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Question
Will the inquiry confirm the nature of the agreement between Nadhim Zahawi and HMRC?
Minister reply
The Minister has confidence in his right hon. Friend who will be open with the independent adviser producing a report for the Prime Minister to establish facts.
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Question
Should Richard Sharp have made a declaration when he appeared before the Committee given his involvement in introducing the loan arrangement?
Minister reply
Mr. Sharp felt that the declaration was not required and a process was put in place to separate him from the loan arrangement. A senior non-executive director at the BBC ensured all disclosure matters were followed correctly.
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Question
Was any Minister informed that the Conservative party chair was blocked from receiving an honour? If so, did the Government take action?
Minister reply
The process for honours is highly confidential. The Minister genuinely does not know if the former Chancellor was up for an award or whether it was blocked.
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Question
Does the Minister think that the British people will trust the Government given the Prime Minister's alleged failure to address serious wrongdoing by Cabinet Ministers?
Minister reply
The hon. Gentleman views the Government differently from the Minister, who has time for his right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister. The independent adviser will establish facts as the inquiry progresses.
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Question
Will Nadhim Zahawi make his tax affairs transparent to an investigation by the independent adviser?
Minister reply
The Minister cannot imagine circumstances where his right hon. Friend would not wish to be fully transparent with the independent adviser, necessary for establishing facts.
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Question
Why has there been a delay in publishing financial interests of Ministers? Why must we wait three months instead of knowing within days?
Minister reply
The updated list of financial interests will be published before the independent adviser's report is out in May. The Minister cannot commit to an exact date but it may be within hours or three months.