Widdecombe: ‘I don’t think there’s any doubt Lammy has broken the ministerial code’

FORMER Prisons Minister Ann Widdecombe has said she believes David Lammy has broken the Ministerial Code by not answering questions posed by the Shadow Defence Secretary in Parliament.

Speaking on GB News, she said: “Certainly if I had known the information, yes [I would have told the House]. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that at all, unless there was some really serious security reason for non-disclosure and clearly there wasn’t in this case, I would have said so.

“it’s always embarrassing if you’re suddenly challenged on something that you don’t really want to make public yet. But nevertheless, you cannot give false information either in the actuality, by actually giving it, or by just refusing the right information and they’re both against the ministerial code.

“It was always made very clear to me that if you give a wrong answer, you correct it immediately. Ministers positively make a habit of giving follow up answers when they haven’t given the absolutely correct answer in the first instance.

“Even if he had hedged it by saying that at the moment the prison service was looking at another possible case, etc, etc; even if he’d hedged it like that, then that would have been better than the blank wall that he actually erected.

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“I don’t think there’s any doubt that he’s broken the ministerial code and I don’t say that lightly. In fact, I very rarely say it, but I can’t see that there’s any other explanation on this occasion.

“I think you’ve got to ask, what about the civil servants who were advising Lammy? I mean, they must have said to him, that always happens. You brief the Prime Minister’s question, don’t just go in and do it. You brief for it.

“And it’s almost inconceivable that they didn’t say, ‘well, look, supposing this comes up, what are you going to say, Minister?’ and then either they give him a form of evasive words, or they would say, just say it.

“On this occasion, either that didn’t happen, or he forgot what he was meant to say, or he didn’t bother, and they didn’t bother to take the advice.

“I don’t know, but you know, what I do know is you don’t go into Prime Minister’s questions just totally unprepared and hoping to give extempore replies. And if you’re caught like that, then you have to answer.

“The truth is, Lammy is not very bright. This is the man who thinks that Henry VII succeeded Henry VIII. He’s not the brightest button in the box, and therefore perhaps you don’t get the sort of quick reaction from him that you might expect to get from other politicians, whether Labour or Tory.”