Afternoon summary
Sir Gavin Williamson, the former Tory minister, may face an inquiry over claims that, when he was chief whip, he provided money to a colleague in financial trouble, saying that he would now “own” the MP. The parliamentary commissioner for standards, Kathryn Stone, suggested an inquiry might be launched when she was asked about the allegation by the Commons standards committee. (See 4.08pm.)Williamson is not on the list of MPs currently under investigation, but while the commissioner is deciding whether a complain merits formal investigation, MPs are not included on this list.
Rishi Sunak has urged officials and aides who may have concerns about Dominic Raab’s behaviour to “come forward” and make a complaint after a top civil servant said Raab was so “demeaning and abrasive” to junior colleagues and that many were “scared” to enter his office.
Sunak has refused to apologise for the impact the Tory government has had on the economy – but he has claimed much of the damage caused by the mini-budget has now been reversed. (See 12.20pm.)
The House of Commons has backed a Labour motion saying Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng should lose some of their severance pay because of the mess they made of the mini-budget. (See 3.55pm.) Government MPs abstained, and the vote is not binding – although in the past previous governments would have considered themselves morally-bound, if not legally-bound, to implement the result of a vote of this kind. Lucy Frazer, the levelling up minister speaking on behalf of the government, said Truss and Kwarteng were entitled to severance payments because they had served in government for a long time. She said, as individuals, they could decide to waive their severance payments. But “the government doesn’t regard it as appropriate to make arbitrary demands of individuals in relation to their entitlements”, she said.
Sunak has rowed back from officially recategorising China as a “threat”, saying he views the country as a “systemic challenge”, despite concerted pressure from Conservative MPs.
Jeremy Hunt is reportedly preparing to hit electricity generation companies with a 40% windfall tax on their “excess returns” as he attempts to fund measures to ease the cost of living crisis. Speaking in the Commons, Hunt has also hinted that his autumn statement on Thursday will change the rules to make it easier for councils to raise council tax without the need to hold a local referendum.
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Gove says central government not to blame for death of child in flat with mould
Michael Gove, the housing secretary, has said that he does not accept central government was to blame for the death of a two-year-old as a result of exposure to mould in a social housing flat.
Responding to the finding of an inquest, which found Awaab Ishak died in 2020 in Rochdale as a direct result of black mould in the flat he lived in, Gove told broadcasters:
We all know that local authorities are facing challenging times when it comes to finance but, frankly, that is no excuse.
When you have got a situation where you have a young child in a house that is unfit for human habitation, it is a basic responsibility of the local authority – but particularly the housing association – to make sure that people are in decent homes.
All this what-aboutery, all this ‘Oh, if only we had more government money’ - do your job, man.
My colleague Mark Brown’s story about the case is here.
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