Intelligence meeting delay due to ‘control freak’ No 10
THE intelligence and security parliamentary committee (ISC) has not sat for the longest time in more than 25 years, it has emerged, amid claims that “control freakery” at No10 has delayed appointments.
Two senior Conservative MPS told The Daily Telegraph that the fact a new committee had not been formed since December’s general election was a result of “the complete control freakery of the Cummings group within No10”.
“They want total control of key appointments so they can appoint their own people,” they said.
It comes after the backlash ignited by members of the liaison committee earlier this year when Boris Johnson personally appointed Sir Bernard Jenkin as the group’s chairman, flouting the convention that members of the group make the appointment.
The MPS said it was “another example of the Cummings plan to control everything from the centre” and added there was “no doubt at all that Dominic Cummings is the one blocking it”.
Their remarks come after James Brokenshire, the security minister, conceded the ISC had not met since last year, the longest time it has not sat since 1994.
“The Prime Minister is obviously looking at the membership to bring forward to see that the ISC is constituted and I’m sure it will come forward in the near term,” he told Radio 4’s Today programme.
When asked if the only reason was “because people haven’t been put forward to be on it”, Mr Brokenshire reiterated that the Prime Minister “is considering membership”.
However, Tobias Ellwood, chairman
‘It’s either the Government having something to hide, it doesn’t care about scrutiny or it’s being lazy’
of the defence select committee, said a six-month delay was ridiculous. “It’s plenty of time to make these appointments,” he said. It was “either based on the Government having something to hide, it doesn’t care about scrutiny, or it’s being lazy”, he said.
“In each case the Government must avoid these labels and so I would encourage the appointment of this committee as soon as possible.”
A Government spokesman said: “Work to establish the committee is ongoing and as quickly as current circumstances allow.”