RISHI Sunak has failed to back Suella Braverman after claims she asked civil servants help her avoid getting points on her driving licence for speeding.
The Prime Minister was urged to launch an investigation into whether the Home Secretary’s conduct amounted to a breach of the ministerial code - a sackable offence.
The Mail on Sunday reported that, in her previous role as Attorney General, Ms Braverman asked officials to help her avoid publicity after she went over the limit in a 50mph zone.
After she was caught by police last summer, Mr Braverman was given the option of three penalty points, putting up her insurance, or an online speeding awareness course.
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Despiute it being a private mater, Ms Braverman reportedly asked officials to see if she could have a one-to-one session or keep her camera off, so other motorists didn’t see her.
The Mail of Sunday said officials refused as they were forbidden from getting involved, and a political aide asked instead, but the course provider refused.
In the end, Ms Braverman accepted the penalty points.
Asked three times at the G7 in Japan whether Ms Braverman had acted correctly, Mr Sunak refused to support her, saying instead: “I don’t know the full details of what has happened nor have I spoken to the Home Secretary.
“I think you can see first hand what I have been doing over the last day or so. I understand that she’s expressed regret for speeding, accepted the penalty and paid the fine.”
Mr Sunak, who is expected to speak to Mrs Braverman as well as Cabinet Secretary Simon Case after his return from Japan, also expressed frustration at being asked whether he would ask his ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus to investigate the claims.
“Did you have any questions about the summit?” he asked reporters.
However a No 10 spokeswoman later insisted that PM “of course” he had full confidence in his Home Secretary, responding to a message: “Yes, he does.”
Former Tory party chairman Sir Jake Berry said there were “definitely questions to answer” over the “use of civil servants”.
He told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “You shouldn’t do it in the first place but if you do get caught, you just take the medicine.”
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper demanded an “urgent investigation” by Sir Laurie to see whether Mrs Braverman breached the ministerial code.
She said Mr Sunak’s response at the G7 was “good enough Prime Minister”, adding: “The Home Secretary is alleged to have tried to abuse her position to avoid a legal penalty.
“Are you really too weak to even set up an investigation?”
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said every second Mrs Braverman is not under investigation is “another blow to the integrity of this already sleaze-ridden Prime Minister”.
Green MSP Maggie Chapman said: “This looks like yet another abuse of power from a Home Secretary who seems to think it's one rule for her and another for everyone else.
“Rishi Sunak pledged to ensure his government would be one of integrity and accountability.
“Instead what we have seen is a wave of tax investigations, a litany of bullying allegations, the lingering stench of partygate and questionable loans, and now a Home Secretary who seems to be have put pressure on officials to help dig her out a hole.This must go to an ethics inquiry, and if these allegations are true then her career of shame is surely finished.”
Sir Laurie cannot launch an investigation without Mr Sunak’s approval.
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A source close to Mrs Braverman told the PA news agency the speeding ticket and how it was dealt with were reported to the Cabinet Office at the time.
They said she was keen to arrange a course because of concerns her insurance premium potentially could increase.
The Sunday Times also reported that Ms Braverman approached civil servants about the issue after she was made Home Secretary by then PM Liz Truss last September.
Mrs Braverman resigned in October after sharing a sensitive document with a Tory backbencher from a personal email without permission.
But Mr Sunak reappointed her just six days later when he entered No 10.
A spokesman for the Home Secretary said: “Mrs Braverman accepts that she was speeding last summer and regrets doing so. She took the three points and paid the fine last year.”
A motorist who accumulates 12 or more penalty points on their licence is liable to a ban.
Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick was last month fined and given a six-month driving ban after speeding on the M1.
Security minister Tom Tugendhat was also banned for six months after pleading guilty last year to using his phone while driving.
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