Ann Widdecombe was having a bit of a go at the Speaker, John Bercow, yesterday for rolling over and not standing up for MPs’ rights against Sir ThomasLegg.
I’m told that Speaker Bercow twice tried to persuade Sir Thomas to drop the retrospective elements, constructing caps for spending on gardening and cleaning second homes when they never existed before.
Sir Thomas, I understand, said his own reputation was at stake. In the end, after two attempts, the Speaker decided that Sir Thomas was not budging.
Some members of the Members’ Estimates Committee wanted to vote the Legg idea down but the Speaker and others won the day and collectively they decided they had to let an independent auditor make an independent decision.
Some MPs are calling Sir Thomas’s insistence on standing his ground the “Hutton effect.”
An individual takes over an inquiry and gets tough because he doesn’t want what happened to Lord Hutton of David Kelly/Iraq Inquiry fame to happen to him or her.
Some of the headlines following Hutton’s report: “A stain on the truth by Lord Whitewash” (Daily Mail), “Hutton a whitewash say 56 per cent” (Telegraph), “Whitewash? The Hutton report” (a special issue of The Independent).
UPDATE: Apologies. I hear Speaker Bercow met Sir Thomas once, face to face, to put the case against cash limits on gardening and cleaning – he had, I am told, already accepted Sir Thomas wasn’t budging on retrospective limits.
Related: Some Legg letters are still unopened
Commentsoldest first
Nothing should be hidden, we should know all, we pay for it. Legg is right but he hasn’t gone far enough the question of morality never seems to come, to me they have disgraced themselves and parliament and betrayed out trust.
Come off it Mr Snow, Fox News has a different point of view, Why Oh Why is the Left so intolerant of the other side of politics? Keep it up Fox, you are a breath of fresh air.
JK
Bercow would say that, he is part of the problem not the solution.Just who do these people think they are. No wonder we are in such a mess.
It’s quite unbelievable but yet very predictable, the attempts that MPs will try to warp, bend, pressure, influence, etc. Leggs decisions. These corrupt MPs typify why Britain, Her Majestys UK MPs etc, has been exposed as the worst example of greed, corruption, lies, spin, bribing, excuse making, hatred causing, self serving, corrupt rule creating/using, ‘gentlemens secretive club, media distorting scum that sets the worst example to this world.
The Hutton effect is another example of whitewash lies that any self respecting Sir titled person should avoid.
The British Government has become the shame of the world. The Conservatives will probably continue this legacy.
It is right and proper that someone gets to grips with this murky area but unless his investigation is thorough and everyone brought to account, it remains piecemeal and seemingly random, giving those picked out cause to whinge – which they are doing.
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