Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has spoken to his ethics adviser following allegations over Home Secretary Suella Braverman’s handling of a speeding offence, Downing Street has said.
A Sunday Times report alleged that Braverman, after being caught speeding in 2022, sought advice about arranging a private speed awareness course via Home Office officials and an aide.
Opposition parties have called on the ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus to investigate whether she breached ministerial rules in the process.
A No. 10 spokesman said on Monday that the prime minister has spoken to Magnus and is “availing himself of information” about the situation after his return from the Hiroshima G-7 summit.
But Sunak continued to have confidence in the home secretary, the spokesman said.
‘Nothing Untoward’
According to a Sunday Times report, Braverman asked Home Office civil servants to help organise a one-to-one driving awareness course as she was keen not to have to accept three points on her licence for a speeding offence.Officials are said to have refused the request, so Braverman allegedly turned to a political aide to assist her in attempting to arrange an alternative to having to attend a course with other motorists.
After the requests were refused, the report said, Braverman gave up and opted to take the three points on her licence.
On Monday, in her first public comments on the row, the home secretary insisted there was “nothing untoward” about her handling of the matter.
She told reporters: “Last summer, I was speeding. I regret that. I paid the fine and I took the points but we’re focused now on delivering for the British people and working for them.”
‘Inappropriate’
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Braverman should resign if she is found to have broken the ministerial code.Starmer told ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Monday, “I don’t know all the facts but it looks to me as though the home secretary’s actions were inappropriate and they should be investigated.”
The Labour leader said he did not want to get “ahead of himself” in calling for Braverman to resign but said, “I think if she’s breached the ministerial code she should go.”
Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA union which represents senior officials, told Sky News: “Civil servants are publicly-funded. They’re paid for by you and me. They’re not there to support the personal interests of a minister.
‘Smearing’
But Braverman’s allies defended her, with former Cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg suggesting there is no need for an investigation.He told BBC Radio 4’s World at One, “I would have thought the prime minister could think this through pretty clearly, that this is not a big story.”
He added: “What goes on in private offices is that a minister is busy, has many things to do, and sometimes will ask for something that civil servants can’t do. But as long as, once they’ve said no, you accept it, then you haven’t done anything wrong.”
Tory MP Miriam Cates told the Daily Mail: “Suella has done nothing wrong. Around 1.5 million people take speed awareness courses every year so it’s hardly a news story. In smearing the home secretary like this, someone is clearly seeking to play the man not the ball. It’s underhand and undermines democracy.”
