Tag: Ministerial Responsibility
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Mike Gordon: Labour’s Ministerial Code and Political Standards Reform
On 6th November, Prime Minister Keir Starmer published his (long awaited) revised version of the Ministerial Code. A written statement in Parliament by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Pat McFadden, accompanying the release of the updated text suggested that ‘[t]he new code will be instrumental in setting out the high standards that the…
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Mike Gordon: Creating an Integrity and Ethics Commission in the UK: The Case for Reform and Challenges for Implementation
In an era of intense and continuing controversy over the rules of political responsibility, the question of how to reform the current framework of constitutional standards applicable to politicians requires serious consideration. In addition to the regularity with which allegations about ministerial irresponsibility are being raised and sometimes (eventually) addressed, there are clearly structural challenges…
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Mike Gordon: The Prime Minister, the Parties, and the Ministerial Code
The current Prime Minister’s long running battle with the Seven Principles of Public Life continues to gather pace. Boris Johnson’s actions relating to the pandemic ‘partygate’ scandal have arguably violated each of the principles established by the Nolan Committee in 1995: selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. The Prime Minister’s full house of…
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Mike Gordon: A Statutory Basis for the Ministerial Code – the Challenges
With the UK in the midst of its latest political corruption crisis, the question of the (in)adequacy of the current infrastructure concerning standards in public life is once more in the spotlight. Immediately prior to the parliamentary farce over the Owen Paterson lobbying affair, the Committee on Standards in Public Life published a significant report,…
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Rodney Brazier: Mr Johnson and His Flat
Let me begin with what should be platitudinous. The presumption of innocence is a cherished legal principle in the United Kingdom. No one is guilty of a crime unless a court so decides after a fair hearing, and anyone accused of wrongdoing short of a crime is entitled to the protection of an analogous principle. …
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Mike Gordon: Priti Patel, the Independent Adviser, and Ministerial Irresponsibility
We might wonder whether it is worth writing about the rules of ministerial responsibility under the current government of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. This is especially the case after the Prime Minister’s remarkable, but hardly surprising, decision last week to give his full support to the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, to remain in his Cabinet…
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Rodney Brazier: Contempt for the Constitution?
The Speaker speaks On 30 September the Speaker made a formal statement excoriating the Government. He told the Commons that Ministers had shown “a total disregard” for the House when using their powers to make delegated legislation under the Coronavirus Act 2020. Having set out his reasons, he ended by saying that he looked “to…
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Gavin Phillipson: “Historic” Commons’ Syria vote: the constitutional significance. Part II – the way forward
In Part I of this blog post I set out in detail the reasoned case for my opinion that, following the Syria vote in August 2013, there is a constitutional Convention to the effect that ‘the Government must, before, commencing any military action, permit a debate and vote in the House of Commons and abide…
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Mike Gordon: Ministerial Responsibility After Huhne
Does the Chris Huhne affair have constitutional implications? In one sense, the answer to this question might be a rather obvious one. From a constitutional perspective – although certainly not from a political perspective – the case seems relatively uncontroversial. Huhne resigned from his post as Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change on…
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Jacob Rowbottom: Ministers, media and the decision to investigate
Last week, an editorial in the Guardian called for the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests to be scrapped. The paper argued that, as the Adviser is called into action so infrequently, his £20,000 salary is not a good use of resources. Since that article was published, Baroness Warsi has been referred to the Independent Adviser,…