Tag: Attorney General for England and Wales

Theresa May has said she was surprised that the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, had allowed MPs to vote on Dominic Grieve’s Brexit amendment on Wednesday, and called on him to explain himself before parliament. John Bercow: Speaker unafraid to hold the government's feet to the fire Read more The prime minister said there should be “consistent interpretation” of the rules as she waded into the row about Bercow’s decision to allow Grieve to submit an amendment on a government motion that was intended not to be altered. May has no power to dismiss Bercow, who has been in the job for over nine years. His appointment is a matter for the whole House of Commons, and the Speaker retains the support of pro-remain Conservatives as well as opposition MPs. But she warned that the Speaker was at risk of making up the rules as he went along. “Members of Parliament need to know that there is a set of rules in the House of Commons; they need to know that there will be consistent interpretation of those rules so that they know how they can operate within the House,” May said. Grieve’s amendment passed on Wednesday by 11 votes after Bercow allowed it to be debated. Government business managers had submitted a procedural motion for the Brexit debate that they said was unamendable, but Bercow directed his clerks that it should be taken for debate. Earlier, a defiant Bercow had told MPs that “there was nothing arbitrary about the conduct of the chair yesterday” when he was accused of arbitrarily changing the rules by Leadsom in the Commons. “This Speaker is well aware of how to go about the business of chairing the proceedings of the House because he’s been doing so for nine and a half years,” Bercow said, describing criticism as “water off a duck’s back”.

The Conservative party is coming under intense pressure to decide whether to take disciplinary action against Boris Johnson following his continued refusal to apologise for his controversial descriptions of fully veiled Muslim women. A complaint about Johnson has been lodged with Tory party chairman Brandon Lewis, who is responsible for the party’s code of conduct which says that Tory MPs and other holders of public office should “foster respect and tolerance” in their work. Lewis has to decide whether to launch disciplinary proceedings following a day of intense criticism of Johnson, largely from the liberal wing of the party, after he used a column in the Telegraph to compare fully veiled women to “letterboxes” and “bank robbers”. MP Dominic Grieve said the former foreign secretary was “not a fit and proper person” to lead the party and said he would quit the Tories if Johnson was elected leader. Writing in the Guardian, Baroness Warsi said his language had made “hate crime more likely”. Lewis had personally asked him on Tuesday to apologise but Johnson, who is on holiday, has refused to do so. The prime minister urged him to apologise and said she agreed with Lewis that Johnson should say sorry for his remarks, which she acknowledged had caused offence in the Muslim community. Friends of Johnson claimed that the row was politically motivated, and that other MPs, including the former chancellor Ken Clarke, had made similar remarks comparing the burqa to a bag without similar reproach. Warsi accused Johnson of making “hate crime more likely” with indefensible “dog whistle” references to Muslim women. One cabinet minister, Jeremy Wright, said Johnson should have chosen his language more carefully and that he was “sure on reflection” that he would want to reconsider the language he had used.