Bond premiere was relevant to Patel’s role, MPS told as officials defend free tickets
THE Home Secretary claimed free James Bond tickets because the film is connected to her role as Home Secretary, MPS have been told.
Priti Patel went to the premiere of No Time To Die at the Royal Albert Hall in September as a guest of the Jamaican Tourist Board and subsequently declared it to the Home Office.
But her decision to declare it to her department rather than through the House of Commons came under fire from Chris Bryant MP, the Labour chair of the standards committee.
He said: “Priti Patel went to the Bond premiere on Sep 28 2021 as a guest of the Jamaica Tourist Board. She declared it, not through the House, but to her department. Why is that in her ministerial capacity?”
Ms Patel’s decision to declare the tickets to the Home Office was defended by Mark Spencer, the Commons Leader, who said this was “entirely right”, adding: “I suspect and I would suggest she was invited as the Home Secretary.”
When pressed by Mr Bryant on what a Bond premiere “has got to do with her job as Home Secretary”, Michael Ellis MP, minister for the Cabinet Office, said: “Well, the nature of the film is, one could argue, connected to executive functions.” His response prompted laughter among MPS on the committee.
Mr Bryant added that Liz Truss, the Foreign Secretary, was invited to the premiere by producers Eon, and asked again: “In what sense is that at all in their ministerial capacity?”
Mr Spencer responded that both Ms Truss and Ms Patel were “invited as the Foreign Secretary and the Home Secretary, not as constituency MPS”.
Mr Spencer also told the committee that anonymous Tory MPS who spoke to the Mail on Sunday about Angela Rayner acted in an “inappropriate” way, but he did not think they broke any rule.
He said he believed those speaking to the newspaper breached “lots” of the principles of public life, including “leadership” and “integrity”. But asked what rule they had broken, he said: “I don’t suppose they’ve broken any rule in the House.”
Earlier this week, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the Commons, demanded a meeting with the editor of the in the wake of an article containing “misogynistic, offensive and demeaning” claims about Labour’s deputy leader.
Harriet Harman, the veteran Labour MP, has called for a change to the Commons rules to make misogynistic, homophobic and racist briefings a breach of the MPS’ code of conduct.