Legal battle looms after Grieve wins vote over private messages

‘Disappointed’ Government ordered to reveal memos from key advisers about suspension of Parliament

DOWNING Street is set for another legal row with MPS after they backed a plan to force the Government to publish private messages from key advisers about the decision to suspend Parliament.

Dominic Grieve, the former Conservative attorney general, spearheaded the move as part of a backlash against the Prime Minister’s decision to prorogue Parliament for the longest period since 1930.

The Government insists the decision was taken so it could bring forward a Queen’s Speech and begin legislating for its domestic agenda.

Mr Grieve, one of 21 MPS to lose the Conservative whip last week after backing plans to force another Brexit delay, questioned whether the true motivation was to stop MPS being able to have an influence on the Government’s talks with the EU until they returned on Oct 14.

MPS last night backed his demand by 311 to 302 for private messages involving a team of Government advisers to be made public by tomorrow.

The request covers communications sent over a range of apps, including Whatsapp, Telegram, Signal, Facebook messenger, private email, text messaging and imessage.

The advisers named in the motion included Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s chief strategist; Nikki da Costa, Downing Street’s head of legislative affairs; and Lee Cain, No10’s director of communications. Others named are Hugh Bennett and Beatrice Timpson, advisers to Jacob Rees-mogg, the Commons Leader; Simon Burton, the media adviser to Mark Spencer, the Chief Whip; Tom Irven and Chris James, from the legislative affairs department; and Sir Roy Stone, the Commons business manager.

A Government spokesman said it was “disappointed” that MPS had passed the motion, which also requires the publication of no-deal plans known as Operation Yellowhammer.

They added: “The Government is committed to sharing appropriate information with Parliament, but we must balance this obligation with the broader public interest, our legal duties and the assurance that ministers can receive full and frank advice that will remain confidential.

“The scope of the information requested in the Humble Address is disproportionate and unprecedented.

“We will consider the implications of this vote and respond in due course.”

Another Government source delivered a much blunter assessment, and blamed John Bercow, the outgoing Commons Speaker, for granting the debate under a little-used procedure known as Standing Order 24.

“Today’s vote is an abuse of Parliamentary

‘If MPS want to seize the private texts of advisers then they can speak to people’s lawyers’

procedure and would never have been allowed under an impartial Speaker,” said the source, adding: “If MPS want to seize the private texts of advisers to their friends, families, colleagues and journalists then they can speak to people’s lawyers.”

The decision to prorogue Parliament was announced on Aug 29, and prompted an immediate backlash.

Mr Bercow described the move, which ultimately cut down the number of days MPS would be sitting by seven, as a “constitutional outrage”.

Speaking in Parliament last night, Mr Grieve said: “As news emerged of the decision to prorogue, it rapidly became clear that the Government did not appear to be giving a consistent account of their reasons.

“As the act of proroguing has led to litigation, it has then followed that some, but not all, of the motives for prorogation began to emerge.

“We have seen that although on August 23 this year No10 Downing Street and the Prime Minister denied considering the idea of proroguing at all, in fact, internal Government documents reveal that this matter was under consideration some 10 days before.”

As part of the evidence submitted to a court case brought by opponents of prorogation, it emerged that the Prime Minister felt the brief return to Parliament by MPS before the party conference season kicked in was a waste of time.

“The whole September session is a rigmarole introduced by girly swot Cameron and show the public that MPS are earning their crust,” he wrote on a Cabinet note, in a reference to the former prime minister.