UK prime minister Rishi Sunak will consult his independent adviser on ministerial ethics after being urged to investigate claims that home secretary Suella Braverman asked civil servants to help her avoid penalty points on her driving licence for speeding.
Ms Braverman was caught speeding by the police last summer. The minister, who was attorney-general at the time, was given a range of options, including attending a speeding awareness course alongside other members of the public, or having three penalty points added to her licence.
But, according to a report by the Sunday Times, she instead requested help from civil servants and her political aide to arrange a private one-to-one speed awareness course — an option not offered to other drivers. She later accepted points on her licence when that request was declined, the newspaper said.
A spokesperson for the home secretary did not deny the allegations, but stated: “Ms Braverman accepts that she was speeding last summer and regrets doing so. She took the three points and paid the fine last year.”
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Downing Street officials confirmed on Sunday evening that once Mr Sunak returns from the G7 summit in Japan, he will consult with Sir Laurie Magnus, his independent ethics adviser, on whether Braverman breached the ministerial code.
The move follows calls by opposition parties to launch a formal ethics inquiry.
In a letter to Mr Sunak, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner called on the prime minister to clarify whether Ms Braverman breached the ministerial code, whether she “encouraged or asked civil servants, officials or special advisers to breach the Civil Service Code by supporting her to further her own private interests”, and when Mr Sunak was informed of the matter.
“The public have a right to know whether the minister responsible for law and order sought to abuse her position in an attempt to gain preferential treatment to avoid a speeding fine,” Ms Rayner added. “This Conservative cabinet appear to think they are above the laws that govern the rest of us.”
Wendy Chamberlain, Liberal Democrat chief whip, called on the prime minister to address the matter in front of MPs in the House of Commons on Monday.
“Rishi Sunak is so weak he can’t even make sure his own ministers maintain the very basic level of integrity,” she said. “The least he can do is come to parliament and explain this farce.”
This is not the first time that Ms Braverman has been embroiled in controversy over her conduct. In her first tenure as home secretary under former prime minister Liz Truss, she resigned last October after conceding she had committed a “technical breach” of ministerial rules in sending confidential information using a private phone.
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Speaking over the weekend, during a press conference at the G7 conference in Hiroshima, Mr Sunak said Ms Braverman had “expressed regret” over the incident.
Challenged on whether his independent adviser to ministerial interests, would be investigating the matter and whether he had full confidence in his home secretary, the prime minister replied: “I don’t know the full details of what has happened, nor have I spoken to the home secretary.”
He added: “I think you can see first-hand what I have been doing over the last day or so but I understand that she’s expressed regret for speeding, accepted the penalty, and paid the fine.”
Downing Street later stressed that the prime minister “of course” had confidence in his home secretary.
The reports come after Ms Braverman was accused of launching a thinly veiled leadership bid last week, in a 4,000 word speech reiterating the importance of reducing “legal migration” as well as crossings on the English Channel.
Her department is braced for new net migration figures from the Office for National Statistics that analysts predict could rise to 700,000 from slightly more than 500,000 in the year to June 2022. - Financial Times Limited