Sunday shows: PM has “very dangerous blind spot” over integrity, says Labour

Trevor Phillips on Sunday

Shadow Housing Secretary Lucy Powell argued that Matt Hancock’s behaviour and the response from Boris Johnson showed that the Prime Minister has a “very dangerous blind spot when it comes to issues of integrity and conduct in public life”.

• On the resignation: “This goes to the judgement and the leadership of the Prime Minister as well because Matt Hancock, yes it’s good that he’s now gone, but he should have gone on Friday and the Prime Minister should have sacked him.”
• On Johnson: “These are the difficult decisions of leadership and I’m afraid it feels to me like the Prime Minister has a very dangerous blind spot when it comes to issues of integrity and conduct in public life.”
• On a £16,000 severance payment for Hancock: “Most of your readers would be appalled to think there’s going to be a severance payment… We will certainly be calling that out and asking the Prime Minister not to give him that.”
• Reminding viewers of Hancock’s recommendations on NHS pay: “He… recommended that our NHS workers, after the year that they’ve just had in this pandemic, on the frontline, who have worked flat out, who are now on their knees, he recommended that they in effect had a pay cut.”
• Asked whether the police should look into Hancock’s behaviour: “Yes, there are serious issues here, which need further investigation and we will be looking at those… You can’t have the rule maker also being the rule breaker.”
• On the wider conduct of Hancock: “We now also find out that Matt Hancock was using his own private Gmail account to undertake effectively negotiations and discussions about very large NHS contracts.”
• On wider issues across government: “That comes on top of other questions relating to Michael Gove, Priti Patel and others about the handing out of government contracts and so, yes, there are some very serious issues here that seem to cut across the whole of government about how government contracts, government paid for jobs are being handed out and whether they’re being done in accordance with those Nolan principles… and the ministerial code of conduct.”
• She added: “[The Tories] are governing in the interests of their wealthy friends… It’s not just about your processes and whether you’ve got strong leadership – and I absolutely believe that Keir Starmer would have sacked Matt Hancock or if it had been any one of us in this situation on the spot – and how you deal with them, but it’s also about in whose interests are you governing.”
• On the Batley and Spen by-election: “We’ve got a fantastic local candidate in Kim Leadbeater who is a very passionate local community activist, she’s not really a politician at all, and we’ll be fighting for every voter on Thursday.”
• On opposition during the pandemic: “We have to take a slightly different approach. People don’t want opposition for opposition’s sake… You’ll hear a lot more from Labour over the coming months about how we’ll deal with some of those underlying issues that this pandemic has exposed.”
• On reports that some are trying to persuade Tony Blair to stand as an MP and the prospect of him returning as leader: “We’ve got a good leader in Keir Starmer and we’re united behind him… We are focused on being united.”

Brandon Lewis discussed the resignation of Matt Hancock, after he breached his own Covid health restrictions with an aide, and said “we’ve all got to do our bit to follow the guidelines”.

“I absolutely accept and understand the frustration and even the anger that many people have having been through the situations they’ve been through,” he said. “What Matt did was wrong. He acknowledged that. He apologised immediately.”

The Conservative minister said that the now former Health Secretary had made “ultimately the right judgement” to step down from the role. He added that Hancock “doesn’t want this situation around himself to distract from that key focus”.

On how the footage of Hancock was leaked, the Northern Ireland Secretary said it is something that the department “needs to get to the bottom of” and added: “What happens in government departments can be sensitive and important.”

The Andrew Marr Show

Labour London mayor Sadiq Khan explained the slower uptake of the Covid jab in the capital compared to other regions in the UK. He also discussed rising crime in London, telling viewers this morning that “cuts have consequence”.

• Asked whether Matt Hancock did the right thing by resigning as Health Secretary: “He did, but what’s surprising is that on Friday the Prime Minister thought this matter was closed because Matt Hancock gave an apology.”
• He added: “What’s important now is for there to be proper investigation into which rules were broken, in relation to use of private email, in relation to the appointment of senior staff and also in relation to the social distancing rules.”
• Asked why London is behind other regions in terms of the proportion of residents who have been vaccinated: “Our population is younger, it’s more mobile, it’s more diverse, we’re less likely to be registered with a GP. But also we have a large migrant population as well – less likely to be registered with a GP but also less likely to share their data to receive a jab.”
• On the Covid unlocking ‘roadmap’ and reopening next month: “The reality is we’re not going to be able to fully reopen on July 5th; I think we should, hopefully, fingers crossed, be able to fully reopen on July 19th.”
• Asked whether he thinks it is wise for Wembley to host the UEFA finals: “Yeah I’m reassured, I think it’s going to be great for our city… We’ve worked incredibly hard to make the games safe.”
• Asked when theatres should reopen: “Theatres have worked so hard to make themselves Covid secure. I think they should fully reopen on July 19th, as well as live music venues, as well as pubs, as well as bars.”
• On the recovery from the pandemic: “The two things that are crucial over the next period is one to make sure everyone gets the vaccine, but also secondly that we make sure that we have a rapid recovery.”
• On rising crime in London: “We’re working incredibly hard to both invest in the police, being tough on crime, but also as importantly invest in giving young people constructive things to do.”
• On crime figures in the run-up to Covid: “Before the pandemic even began, we saw youth violence going down, homicides going down, knife crime below 25 going down, burglaries going down, but I’m not complacent.”
• Asked why some crime has been rising: “Cuts have consequences. You can’t reduce police officers numbers by 21,000, close down youth clubs, reduce public services, reduce the numbers of after school clubs, have very few things for young people to do and then be surprised when crime starts going up.”
• On the number of police in the capital: “We’ve got 1,300 additional officers [since 2016] funded by City Hall, thanks to council tax and business rates, but we lost thousands before I invested in the police service.”
• Put to him that Johnson had a better record on crime as mayor with less police officers: “That’s not true. So Boris Johnson, when he became mayor in 2008, there was a Labour government investing record sums in both being tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime. Up until 2013, after the Olympics, he had far more officers than before. There is a link between officer numbers starting to go down in 2013 and serious youth violence going up.”
• Asked whether Cressida Dick is responsible for rising violent crime: “No, those committing the crimes and acts of violence are responsible for the violent crime – we’ve got to invest in policing but also invest in young people as well.”
• Asked whether he has faith in Dick given criticism over her handling of the Sarah Everard vigil and recent accusations of institutional corruption in the Met: “I’ve got faith in Cressida Dick. I’ve got full confidence.”

Brandon Lewis also appeared on the show. He told viewers that the Prime Minister had been “absolutely right” to back Matt Hancock shortly before the then Health Secretary resigned for having broken his own Covid health restrictions.

Former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the government response to Covid had seen “some of the worst failures of the state in our lifetime” as well as “some of the biggest successes”.

He said that “there was a blind spot in the social care system” last year. He also said that “absolutely top” of the agenda for Sajid Javid, who is replacing Hancock as Health Secretary, should be a ten-year plan for social care.

Asked how long Javid should have to produce a plan for social care, he said: “Six months because the government has said it will get they will do it by the end of this year and I know Sajid will want to honour that promise.”