Video
Brexiteer MP turns on Boris Johnson’s advisers saying PM broke ministerial code
Peter Bone criticises Boris Johnson's team for allowing him to break ministerial code over the lockdown announcement. Photograph: Parliament TV. - Credit: Archant
A Tory Brexiteer MP has turned on the advisers surrounding his party's leader over their handling of the easing of lockdown.
Peter Bone accused Johnson's advisers of thinking 'they are running a presidential government' after the prime minister made a televised address to the public on Sunday evening about easing measures in England.
The Brexiteer said that aides - like senior aide Dominic Cummings - had 'clearly been watching too many episodes of The West Wing'.
While he praised the prime minister for his handling of the crisis so far, he suggested that Johnson 'may have broken the ministerial code' by failing to make a statement in the House of Commons first.
He told MPs: 'The television presentation by the prime minister was plain wrong.
You may also want to watch:
'Too many of the prime minister's special advisers and aides think they are running a presidential government that the prime minister goes on television and announces all sorts of executive orders without any reference to parliament.
'Many of them have clearly been watching too many episodes of The West Wing.
Most Read
- 1 These are the 322 Tory MPs who voted against extending free school meals to children
- 2 Question Time: Ex-Tory minister accused of making 'sickening' comment about free schools meals row
- 3 Betty Boothroyd delivers scathing assessment of Boris Johnson's government
- 4 Downing Street withholds praise for business and local authorities offering free meals to hungry children
- 5 Priti Patel bullying inquiry may never be released, hints Boris Johnson's new civil service boss
- 6 House of Lords defies No 10 and votes to heavily defeat Boris Johnson's Brexit bill
- 7 Priti Patel set to hand private firms £28 million in government contracts to deport asylum seekers from UK
- 8 Boris Johnson 'plans to resign' in six months because he can't live on £150k salary
- 9 German MEP tells Boris Johnson he 'owes' Britons a Brexit deal as she urged a return to EU trade talks
- 10 At the upcoming US election, Donald Trump really is toast
'And they just do not understand how the government works in the country.'
He continued: 'On page 23 under the section 'Ministers And Parliament', it says in bold type: 'When parliament is in session, the most important announcements of government policy should be made in the first instance, in parliament'.
Screen grab of Prime Minister Boris Johnson addressing the nation about coronavirus (COVID-19) from 10 Downing Street in London. PA Photo. Picture date: Sunday May 10, 2020. See PA story HEALTH Coronavirus. Photo credit should read: PA Video/Downing Street Pool/PA Wire
'Clearly the prime minister's television address breached the ministerial code.'
Explaining how the prime minister should have made the announcement, he said: 'What should have happened was a statement should have been made in the Commons first, the prime minister should have been questioned by MPs.
'The command paper with the details published at the same time.
'Absolutely no media briefing in advance.
'This would have given the best launch to the changes to government policy.'
Last week the House of Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle expressed 'regret' that Johnson chose to make his address through the media rather than the House of Commons.
Become a Supporter
The New European is proud of its journalism and we hope you are proud of it too. We believe our voice is important - both in representing the pro-EU perspective and also to help rebalance the right wing extremes of much of the UK national press. If you value what we are doing, you can help us by making a contribution to the cost of our journalism.