Tory MP rants about BBC grilling Rishi Sunak over Suella Braverman speeding row
A Tory MP has launched an attack on the BBC’s Chris Mason after he questioned Rishi Sunak about the Suella Braverman speeding row.
Sir Charles Walker complained that the Political Editor had raised the scandal engulfing the government at the G7 summit in Japan.
In the Commons today, he demanded to know: “Why? Why?”
The Home Secretary, dubbed “Speedy Sue”, was fined and given points on her licence after she was caught driving too fast last summer.
But Mrs Braverman’s aide insisted this was not true when the Mirror contacted the minister about the offence seven weeks ago.
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The Tory special adviser denied four times that the minister had been done for speeding and claimed it was “nonsense”.
Suella Braverman is battling to keep her job as Home Secretary (Wiktor Szymanowicz/REX/Shutterstock)The Prime Minister is under pressure to launch an investigation into claims Mrs Braverman asked civil servants to arrange for her to do a private speed awareness course without members of the public present.
Mr Sunak appeared annoyed after Mr Mason asked him about the row at a G7 press conference on Sunday.
He whined: "Do you have any questions about the summit?"
Speaking this afternoon in the Commons, Sir Charles said: "I have an admission to make, the Home Secretary's not on my Christmas card list and I'm certainly not on hers."
He added: "I find it hard to get my head around the fact that the BBC sent its political editor half way across the world to a G7 conference summit where we were discussing energy security, Ukraine, defence, to ask our Prime Minister a question about a speed awareness course. This is the question, why, why?"
Rishi Sunak faced questions about his scandal-prone Home Secretary at the G7 (AP)Tory minister Jeremy Quin responded: “As (he) is well aware the BBC is editorially completely independent, but I absolutely hear what he says."
Fellow Conservative Sir Edward Leigh said the "moral outrage is ludicrous".
He said: "What's wrong with this country, we used to have proper scandals about sex or money, or about prime ministers invading Iraq on dodgy evidence in which hundreds of thousands of people died.
"Apparently this is a scandal, all this moral outrage is ludicrous that a minister asked her private office about something and she takes their advice... We all know what's this all about, they're attacking a good Home Secretary who is trying to attack the real scandal of mass immigration to this country."
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But Angela Rayner demanded to know "how many strikes" before the Home Secretary is "out"?
The Labour deputy leader said: "Our constituents expect those who make the rules to follow the rules, especially the minister responsible for upholding the law."
She added: "If the Home Secretary did authorise her special adviser to tell journalists that there was not a speeding penalty this would... amount to a breach of the ministerial code.”
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