'Jostling to be next Leader of the Tory party has already begun'

MP for Ellesmere Port

AN UNWRITTEN rule if you want to succeed in Parliament is to avoid upsetting the Speaker in the House of Commons.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle is known to be an accommodating soul who tries to be fair to all sides of the chamber, but it is best not to rile him.

And when you do fall foul of generally accepted standards of the House that the Speaker is there to uphold, be prepared for a double-barrelled rebuke.

Sir Lindsay has made it clear he is increasingly annoyed about Ministers making important Government related announcements outside of Parliament, usually via the media and occasionally at Party political events.

When it does happen, Ministers are expected to offer a satisfactory apology in front of MPs in the Commons. And that is where Kemi Badenoch MP, in her role as Secretary of State for Business and Trade, went horribly wrong when she stated, dismissively: “I am very sorry, Mr Speaker, that the sequencing that we chose was not to your satisfaction,” adding: “It was not the right procedure.” She sounded patronising and sarcastic when she spoke so it was no surprise when Mr Speaker told her in no uncertain terms: “Order. That is totally not acceptable. “Who do you think you are speaking to, Secretary of State? I think we need to understand each other. “I am the defender of this House and these Benches on both sides. I am not going to be spoken to by a Secretary of State who is absolutely not accepting my ruling. “Take it with good grace and accept it that Members should hear it first...”

So how did Kemi Badenoch MP offend Mr Speaker? Well she announced a major U-turn on legislation (the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill) not in Parliament but in an article in a Government-leaning national newspaper. Back in time, Ministers announced in a fanfare of glory that they were preparing a ‘bonfire’ – to be lit by the end of the year – of about 4,000 pieces of legislation enacted during the 40-plus years we were members of the European Union.It was a ridiculous timescale to attempt to get rid of a multitude of laws and in reality it was never going to happen in the deadline they set. Now the Government has announced that 4,000 figure has been reduced to 600 – and even that is stretching it a lot. As Shadow Minister for Employment Rights, it was my job to respond after this telling off so I spoke about this “absolute shambles” that has been the Governments approach to this and I made it clear during the debate that Labour MPs had warned the Government repeatedly that this ‘bonfire’ was never going to happen, and we were not alone. Warnings also came from the Institute of Directors, the Trades Union Congress, the Bar Council and many other organisations.

This u-turn, although inevitable, has reopened age old fissures in the Tory party over Europe with the likes of Jacob Rees Mogg indicating that this u turn was not necessary. Even Cabinet colleagues of Kemi Badenoch’s such as Grant Shapps and Suella Braverman have briefed they would not have u-turned. It seems the jostling to be next Leader of the Tory party has already begun.