Pressure grows on Sunak to order Braverman probe

The jibe came as pressure continues to mount on Rishi Sunak to order an inquiry into whether Ms Braverman breached the ministerial code by asking civil servants to help her escape a group speed awareness course.

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The Home Secretary has insisted she did “nothing untoward” though has not denied asking staff for help. 

According to the Times, officials were so concerned by her request they emailed the Cabinet Office’s propriety and ethics team, who told them to disregard it. 

The paper also reported Mrs Braverman instructed them to organise the course, rather than simply soliciting advice, the newspaper suggested.

Ultimately, the minister did not go on the course, paid a fine and took three points on her licence.

Mr Sunak has not yet referred the case to his ethics adviser, Sir Laurie Magnus. His official spokesman said he first wanted to "gather all the facts before making a decision."

Meanwhile, a fresh allegation of a ministerial code breach has emerged, with the Independent reporting that Ms Braverman failed to disclose that she co-founded a charity called the Africa Justice Foundation which has close links to the government of Rwanda. 

Several people the charity worked with are now key members of President Paul Kagame’s administration and are involved in the UK’s £140m deal to send asylum seekers to the East African country. 

The paper says Ms Braverman resigned from her post as director of the Africa Justice Foundation weeks before being elected to parliament, and did not declare her previous role to Home Office permanent secretary Matthew Rycroft last year.

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Responding to the urgent question in the Commons, Mr Quinn told MPs: “The Prime Minister made clear to the House yesterday that he is receiving information on the issues raised.

“Since returning from the G7, the Prime Minister has met both the independent adviser and the Home Secretary and asked for further information.

“It is right that the Prime Minister, as the head of the executive and the arbiter of the Ministerial Code, be allowed time to receive relevant information on this matter.

“Honourable members will be updated on this in due course.”

The SNP’s Kirsty Blackman described the situation as “a descent into absolute farce.” 

“Instead of professionalism, accountability and integrity that the prime minister promised when he came into office, we are faced with calamity, chaos and corruption,” she said. 

“How can the Prime Minister continue to pretend that he's presiding over a government with anything other than their own personal interests at heart? 

“Isn't it the case that the people of Scotland and indeed all the people of these isles will be better served by politicians who actually understand and stick to the principles of public life and the ministerial code? 

“Will the Prime Minister ensure that an investigation is undertaken into all of the alleged ministerial code preachers? What is the point in having a ministerial code if ministers simply ignore it?”

Mr Quinn said it was “interesting to hear from the SNP about farcical situations with ethics.” 

“And the one advantage of a campervan is I suppose it doesn't go very fast,” he added.

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Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said voters expected lawmakers to follow the rules. 

“After days of dither and delay… the Prime Minister still hasn’t decided whether there should be an investigation by his ethics adviser. When can we expect to know what the Prime Minister is thinking on this matter?”

She pointed to Ms Braverman’s resignation as Home Secretary last October, after she breached the ministerial code by using her private email account to discuss the Government's immigration plan.

“How many strikes before she is out?”Ms Rayner asked. 

Mr Quin said he would not “get into speculation about the events in question.”

He added: “What you know of the Prime Minister is that he will deal with these issues properly and professionally, but the first point of that is to gather the information required on which he can take a view.”

There was support for the beleaguered Home Secretary from many on the Tory benches.

Former minister Sir Edward Leigh said the “moral outrage" was "ludicrous.”

“What’s wrong with this country?" he asked MPs.

“We used to have proper scandals about sex or money, or about prime ministers invading Iraq on dodgy evidence in which hundreds of thousands of people died."

He claimed the attacks on Ms Braverman were because she was a "good Home Secretary who is trying to attack the real scandal of mass immigration to this country.”

Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis said voters were more interested in policies than the “witch-hunt from the party opposite”, adding: “The Home Secretary has already taken accountability.”

Scottish Lib Dem MP Christine Jardine said Prime Minister was taking so much time to decide what to do about the Home Secretary’s actions, "any of us could have taken a speed awareness test 17 times and counting.”