Downing Street Says » Prime Minister Trip to Bratislava-Prague

Asked about the Prime Minister’s views towards the remarks of Sir Alastair Graham during his speech today on independent inquiries, the PMOS said that the key word was accountability. Whether there was someone who, in the end, made those decisions who was accountable to not only Parliament, but also to a wider electorate. That was why the Prime Minister believed that in the end, it was better that the Prime Minister who was constitutionally responsible for selecting and informing Ministers, decided if they had abided by the Ministerial Code. The other point was that those who advocated an independent figure seemed to suggest that in some way, there would be less controversy surrounding decisions taken by an independent figure.

As the PMOS had said both this week, and last week, anyone who looked at the experience surrounding the panel in London, for instance, would seem to suggest that this was not the case. Equally, if people looked at the experience of the Hutton Report, again, that would seem to suggest that it was the case. Indeed, some of the coverage yesterday surrounding Sir Philip Mawer, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards showed that even if there was an independent figure, that was no guarantee that decisions would be not criticised by sections of the media. In the end, the argument that in the Prime Minister’s view outweighed all was whether the person who took the ultimate decisions was accountable to Parliament, and to the electorate.

Asked further about the various roles taken, the PMOS said that it was the role of the Cabinet Secretary to establish facts. As the PMOS had said last week, it was not the role of the Cabinet Secretary to make decisions. Equally, the important things in departments was that Secretaries of State could get advice from their Permanent Secretaries, and that we believed was the right way to go. The PMOS said that however these matters were arranged, in the end, if there was a situation in which a Prime Minister in the end had to make decisions, then in the end, it was going to come down to a matter of judgement. People were going to agree or disagree with that judgment. The Prime Minister’s view was that given that was the way that it was, it was better that the person who made the ultimate decisions was someone who was accountable to Parliament, and to the electorate.

Asked by the Evening Standard if it could be conceded that it was a matter of truth that the person who was accountable to Parliament and was a Minister belonging to a governing Party, then the would always be of the same Party, the PMOS said someone was either accountable and they worked through the system of accountability or they did not. The PMOS took the case of the journalist’s own paper yesterday which attacked Sir Philip Mawer. Therefore independence in itself did not guarantee that somebody’s decisions would be accepted uncritically.

Put that Sir Philip was not criticised specifically, the PMOS asked what was the argument for having an independent figure? If the judgement of Solomon was being delivered now, given the current media atmosphere, the PMOS did not think it would get an uncritical judgement.

Put that there was nothing wrong in criticising decisions, but the point was that the Prime Minister had a vested interest in the outcome, the PMOS said that in the end, were people unlikely to accept the legitimacy of the process simply because an independent figure was there. Recent history had suggested that was not necessarily the case. Therefore, it did come back down to a matter of judgement and having to accept that in the end, this was a political judgement, therefore it was better that someone who was directly elected made that judgement.

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» Thursday, March 9, 2006

Prime Minister Trip to Bratislava-Prague

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