Inside Politics: ‘Sleaze’ scandal sees Hancock’s shares under scrutiny

The health secretary is under pressure to explain his shares in a company winning NHS contracts, writes Adam Forrest

(AP)

We’re all set for a grand show of splendid isolation tomorrow. William and Harry will keep their distance at their grandfather’s funeral procession, walking separately on either side of a cousin. And the Queen will sit at some distance from the others at the service. Dignified detachment appears to be exactly what’s needed in Her Majesty’s Government. A sleaze watchdog chief has bemoaned the lack of “boundaries” between civil servants and the private sector. The lack of boundaries between ministers and the private sector is under intense scrutiny too – after it emerged that Matt Hancock has shares in a company winning NHS contracts.

Inside the bubble

Political editor Andrew Woodcock on what to look out for today:

Watch out for a statement about UK-EU discussions over the NI protocol this morning, following last night’s dinner between Brexit minister David Frost and his EU Commission counterpart Maros Sefcovic. Elsewhere, Labour leader Keir Starmer will be campaigning with Scottish leader Anas Sarwar in Edinburgh to push the party’s line on jobs.

Daily briefing

KEEP IT IN THE FAMILY: Health secretary Matt Hancock and his sister have shares in a company which has won contracts from NHS Wales. The health service gave Topwood – which specialises in document storage – £300,000 this year. Hancock acquired over 15 per cent of shares in the firm. The minister’s sister is a Topwood director, and owns an even larger portion. A government spokesman claimed Hancock had acted “entirely properly” – noting he has no responsibility for NHS Wales. It’s also emerged that David Cameron’s double-jobbing official Bill Crothers took another job – a trustee role with the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply – without seeking necessary approval (triple-jobbing?). Crothers claimed it was an “honest mistake”. Okay. Take a deep breath. There is yet another new development in the lobbying scandal. Cabinet Office adviser David Brierwood was hired by Greensill while working for the civil service during the Cameron era, The Guardian reports. “We’ve been saying Tory sleaze is back, but in many ways it never really went away,” said Labour’s Rachel Reeves.

RIGHT OLD PICKLES: Lobbying rules need urgent reform, the government’s top sleaze adviser Eric Pickles has said (as it it wasn’t obvious). Lord Pickles said there did not appear to be “any boundaries at all” between civil servants and the private sector, saying “secret lobbying” was “wrong” and had become a major problem. Pickles – the Tory peer who chairs the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments – told MPs some simple changes to tighten up contracts could at least be put in place “well before the summer”. Does Boris Johnson agree reform is needed? Not quite. The PM suggested the important thing was to “get to the bottom” of the Cameron-Greensill business before getting carried away. As well as his own limited inquiry, MPs on several committees will now make their own enquiries into lobbying – including the public administration and constitutional affairs committee, and committee on standards in public life.

WEY EH, MAN? Murky business abounds, it seems. Downing Street has denied it was involved “at any point” in a Saudi-backed group’s failed bid to buy Newcastle United FC. However, officials have acknowledged meetings took place between the Foreign Office and the Premier League. And No 10 has admitted Boris Johnson did ask a senior aide to check on the progress of the deal, but not to intervene. The PM’s official spokesman confirmed Johnson asked Lord Udny-Lister to check on the progress of the Saudi-Geordie talks. No 10 has refused to say whether Johnson has private WhatsApp conversations with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. But the Daily Mail reports this morning that the crown prince did indeed message Johnson to complain about how a potential deal was going. The newspaper also reveals senior adviser Eddie Lister told the PM: “A call is being set up. The Newcastle deal will hopefully be signed this week.” And Johnson is said to have replied: “Brilliant.”

A HARD DAY’S RESPITE: Fancy a three-day weekend for Netflix, pub trips and walks in the park? Course you do. Nicola Sturgeon knows how nice it sounds. She’s promised Scots a re-elected SNP government would provide funding for companies to offer staff a four-day working week. Sturgeon pledged to commit £10m for a pilot scheme aimed at providing a better “work-life balance”. As well as promising a “transformational” increase in NHS funding, Sturgeon and the SNP are offering up to £50,000 to Scots willing to move to or stay in Scotland’s islands, under plans to tackle rural population decline. Pushing Scottish independence at her manifesto launch, Sturgeon said: “If Denmark and Norway and Ireland can do it … why not Scotland?” Rivals were unimpressed. “They have a one-track mind that prevents them getting anything else done,” said Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie. Alex Salmond, meanwhile, is unimpressed by MSPs of all parties. He said the Scottish parliament was full of “numpties”.

NOT-SO-FRIENDLY WAVE: Tory MPs aren’t happy with the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, after he said the UK is “facing a very serious third wave” of Covid. Peter Bone – the Conservative backbencher never short of an indignant remark – said: “He should butt out of UK affairs and concentrate on running his own country, which he doesn’t seem to be doing very well.” Keeping variants under control will be a key part of stopping that third wave. One expert believes locking down entire street could help control outbreaks. Dr Jeffrey Barrett, of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “It’s really important to be able to try to keep that number as close to zero as possible.” It comes as surge testing for the South African Covid variant was expanded to six London boroughs. Residents in the SE16 postcode in Southwark, N3 in Barnet, HA2 in Harrow and UB3 in Hillingdon have been told to get tested (as well as all residents of Lambeth and Wandsworth).

THE NIGHT BEFORE: We should hear more about how protocol implementation talks have been going this morning. EU Commission counterpart Maros Sefcovic is all set to tell ambassadors how his dinner with David Frost went last night. Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Coveney has already confirmed that UK and EU officials have isolated 27 different issues in relation to Northern Ireland’s contested post-Brexit arrangements. Coveney said some of the problems are more difficult than others and require political solutions to establish “flexibility”, after he held talks with top UK ministers (Frost, foreign secretary Dominic Raab and NI secretary Brandon Lewis). Meanwhile, the Foreign Office revealed that Russian intelligence was behind a major cyber-attack that effected more than 100 major US firms and branches of the US government. Raab’s department assessed that it was “highly likely” Moscow was behind the SolarWinds hack.

On the record

“We’re seeing a murkier and murkier picture, whether it’s the way contracts are handed out … or the lobbying – which is not a revolving door, it’s an open door now to government.”

Keir Starmer on the growing scandal in government.

From the Twitterati

“He wants to be the weathered father of the nation. A unifier who no longer divides for electoral gain.”

Tom Newton Dunn on Boris Johnson’s ambitions…

“So Boris Johnson wants to be ‘father of the nation’. Given we don’t know how many children he has, who’s to say he’s not already?”

…but Otto English is not impressed.

Essential reading

John Rentoul, The Independent: What if Theresa May had kept Boris Johnson out?

Christabel Nsiah-Buadi, The Independent: Why shouldn’t the Black Lives Matter founder live in a million-dollar house?

Rachel Sylvester, Prospect: Boris Johnson has been careless with Northern Ireland

Gaby Hinsliff, The Guardian: Can Keir Starmer outflank the Tories on law and order?

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