There are two urgent questions in the Commons today at 10.30am, but neither is about the treatment of asylum seekers. The first concerns misogyny in the police force and screening arrangements for recruits, and the second concerns abuse and deaths in secure mental health facilities.
Suella Braverman rated fifth worst cabinet performance by Tory members, survey finds
While the election of Liz Truss as Tory leader and Prime Minister may have come as a shock to casual observers of politics, who may have struggled to see past her obvious qualifications for the job, it came as no surprise to regular Cabinet readers ConservativeHome table. The website surveys Tory members every month to ask them to rate the performance of cabinet ministers and for a long time Truss was at or near the top because members were impressed by all the Brexit trade deals that he seemed to be negotiating as the minister of international trade. . And when Boris Johnson’s ratings in the same league table began to plummet, it wasn’t long before his party moved to get rid of him. That is why Suella Braverman, the home secretary, will be dismayed to see that, in the new cabinet’s first league table, she is effectively at the bottom. The only ministers with worse ratings are Grant Shapps, the business secretary, who may be unpopular because of perceptions he was plotting to topple Liz Truss, and three non-ministerial backbenchers who have all been involved in the past. scandals that embarrassed the party (Robert Jenrick, Andrew Mitchell and Gavin Williamson); This is how Paul Goodman explains Braverman’s poor scores in his article. You might infer that Suella Braverman is fifth from the bottom with 20.5 points because of the controversy over her use of private devices for government devices, or her consultations with John Hayes, or her association with Policy Exchange. Or you might think that the panel members share Roger Gale’s view of the Home Secretary’s culpability for what happened at Manston. Or because of the use of the word “invasion” My sense is that the panel marked Braverman low because many of its members believe that for all her rhetoric about stopping small boats, nothing will actually be done. Cabinet league table Photo: ConservativeHome
Manston asylum center not operating legally, minister admits
The government has admitted that the asylum processing center at Manston in Kent is not operating legally, reports my colleague Peter Walker. His full story is here.
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen faces five-day suspension for breaching lobbying rules and defaming the standards commissioner
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen faces a five-day suspension from the Commons after a report found he broke lobbying rules. In a report, the Commons standards committee says Bridgen broke rules on registration, declaration and paid lobbying “on a number of occasions and in a number of ways”. Says: Mr Bridgen has shown a very cautious attitude to the House’s rules on registration and declaration of interests, including repeatedly stating that he did not check his own entry on the register. The report says Bridgen should be suspended from the Commons for two days for breaches of two sections of the Code of Conduct for MPs and a further three sitting days for “an unacceptable attack on the integrity” of the standards commissioner. During the investigation Bridgen sent an email to the parliamentary commissioner for standards, Catherine Stone. He said: I was saddened to hear on several occasions an unfounded rumor that your contract as Parliamentary Standards Commissioner is due to expire in the coming months and that there are advanced plans to offer you a peerage, possibly as soon as the Prime Minister’s resignation list is honoured. There is also some suggestion among colleagues that these plans depend on getting the ‘right’ results in a parliamentary standards inquiry […] I apologize if you find the content of this letter offensive, certainly not my intention, but I would be grateful if you could provide me with an assurance that you are not to be offered an honor or a peerage and that the rumors are indeed malicious and unfounded. The report said the email was “an attempt to put completely inappropriate pressure on the Commissioner” and that “this was completely unacceptable behaviour”. Updated at 09:52 GMT
The Home Office denies responsibility for asylum seekers stranded in London
Good morning. As my colleague Amelia Gentleman reports in our overnight dive, the Home Office turned away 11 asylum seekers from the Manston immigration processing center in central London on Tuesday without accommodation or warm clothing. Here is the story. On the Today program this morning, Danial Abbas, a volunteer at Under One Sky, a homelessness charity which helped asylum seekers, said he was told by someone from the Home Office that a “huge mistake” had been made. Abbas said: I was personally in touch with a gentleman from the Home Office that evening. A solution was found very quickly. Immediately, you know, he threw up his hands on behalf of the Home Office and said: “This was a huge mistake, let’s put such a classification as soon as possible.” The Home Office did not comment on our story last night, but issued a statement this morning. He says the 11 asylum seekers left stranded had initially told staff they would have somewhere to stay in London and that it is therefore wrong to say the Home Office was wrong. A spokesperson said: The people were taken to Victoria Bus Station, London, because they said they had accommodation in that location that would not leave them destitute. They told us they had accommodations available with family friends. Any suggestion that a mistake was made in transporting the people to Victoria is false. The Home Office worked swiftly to find accommodation for the people when we were told that 11 of them did not actually have a place to stay. The Home Office also says the group were only in London for a few hours before accommodation was found for them. This is unlikely to be the final word on the matter. Suella Braverman, the Home Secretary, is visiting Dover today (although she’s not planning any media interviews) and there’s a good chance we’ll get an urgent question about it in the Commons. In other developments, Robert Jenrick, the immigration secretary, said the government was facing legal action over the conditions in which people were being held at Manston and four committee chairs are chosen by the Commons (two Tories, one from Labor and one from SNP) have written an open letter to Braverman demanding answers to a series of questions about the “deplorable conditions” at Manston. Here is the agenda for the day. 9.30am: Kemi Badenoch, the international trade minister, takes questions in the Commons. 10.30am: Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the Commons, makes a statement to the Commons about next week’s business. 11.30am: Downing Street briefs lobby. 12pm: The Bank of England announces its interest rate decision and holds a press conference. 3pm: Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, gives a talk at the Anthropy conference at the Eden Project in Cornwall. I’m trying to follow the comments below the line (BTL) but it’s impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, include “Andrew” somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I try to answer questions and if they’re of general interest I’ll post the question and answer above the line (ATL), though I can’t promise I’ll do it for everyone. If you want to get my attention quickly, it’s probably best to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow. Alternatively you can email me at [email protected] Updated at 09:50 GMT
