The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
PM fails to back minister
Rishi Sunak declined to publicly back Home Secretary Suella Braverman after allegations she asked civil servants to help her avoid incurring points on her licence for speeding.
The prime minister was facing renewed calls yesterday to launch an investigation into the Cabinet minister after he declined to set out whether he will order a probe.
Mr Sunak did not express support for Mrs Braverman when asked three times at a press conference in Hiroshima, where he attended talks with G7 leaders and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.
“I don’t know the full details of what has happened nor have I spoken to the home secretary,” Mr Sunak said.
“I think you can see firsthand what I have been doing over the last day or so, but I understand that she’s expressed regret for speeding, accepted the penalty and paid the fine.”
However, a No 10 spokeswoman later insisted that he does “of course” have full confidence in his home secretary, responding to a message: “Yes, he does.”
Mr Sunak, who left the press conference to fly back to London as planned, is expected to speak to Mrs Braverman as well as Cabinet Secretary Simon Case after his return.
He expressed his frustration at being asked whether he would ask his ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus to investigate the claims.
“Did you have any questions about the summit?” he asked.
The Sunday Times reported that Mrs Braverman asked Home Office aides to help organise a one-to-one driving awareness course.
Officials refused the request so Mrs Braverman
allegedly turned to a political aide to assist her in attempting to arrange an alternative to having to attend a course with other motorists.
She was caught speeding outside London while she was attorney general last summer.
The newspaper reported that a number of requests were made to a speeding awareness course provider by an aide, including asking if the senior Conservative minister could do an online
course, but use an alias or have her camera switched off.
Mrs Braverman ultimately chose instead to accept three points on her driving licence.
Former Conservative Party chairman Sir Jake Berry said there are “definitely questions to answer” over the “use of civil servants”.
He told the BBC’S Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme: “You shouldn’t do it in the first place but if
you do get caught, you just take the medicine.”
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper demanded an “urgent investigation” by Sir Laurie to see whether Mrs Braverman breached the ministerial code.
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said every second Mrs Braverman is not under investigation is “another blow to the integrity of this already sleaze-ridden prime minister”.