Former minister Lord Zac Goldsmith banned from driving after speeding four times

Published

2 years ago

January 11, 2024

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Former environment minister Zac Goldsmith has been temporarily banned from driving after he was caught speeding four times last year, including twice on the same road.

The Conservative peer, 48, cannot drive until mid-March when he will be sentenced for exceeding speed limits in a hybrid electric Volkswagen Golf on roads in London between April and August 2023.

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Lord Goldsmith, who has pleaded guilty to the four incidents, also faces three other driving-related offences, including one in Somerset, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard on Thursday.

The first offence happened on 27 April last year, when he was caught travelling along Chelsea Embankment at 29mph, despite the limit being 20mph, according to court papers.

Just over a month later, on 31 May, the Tory environmentalist drove at 46mph on the A316 in Twickenham, which has a 40mph limit.

He was caught speeding on that same road on 3 August, while driving at 47mph.

A month before the August incident, on 18 July , Lord Goldsmith exceeded the 20mph limit on Bayswater Road, next to Kensington Gardens, while travelling at 28mph.

District Judge Nina Tempia imposed an interim disqualification, banning him from driving until his sentencing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 18 March.

The maximum penalty for speeding is a fine and penalty points or a driving disqualification.

Last April, then immigration minister Robert Jenrick was disqualified from driving for six months for breaking a temporary motorway speed limit by almost 30mph.

Lord Goldsmith, who unsuccessfully ran to be London mayor in 2016, was previously Conservative MP for Richmond Park before he lost his seat at the 2019 general election.

Despite his rejection by voters in the southwest London constituency, then prime minister Boris Johnson made him a Tory peer in the House of Lords so he could keep his role as environment minister.

Lord Goldsmith retained a ministerial position under Rishi Sunak but quit in June in protest at the government’s position on climate change.

The barbed resignation came days after being named in the partygate interference report, which investigated attempts to undermine the Privileges Committee’s investigation into whether Mr Johnson misled parliament over the scandal.

Since then Lord Goldsmith has claimed the Conservatives don’t have an answer on “the biggest challenge we’ve ever faced” – the climate crisis, and said he is even tempted to vote for Labour at the next general election.

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David Lammy blames ‘human error’ for release of migrant sex offender – as confirms independent investigation

Published

5 hours ago

October 28, 2025

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David Lammy blames 'human error' for release of migrant sex offender - as confirms independent investigation

David Lammy has confirmed there will be an independent investigation into the accidental release of a migrant jailed for sex offences, as he blamed “human error” for the incident.

The deputy prime minister and justice secretary told MPs he was “livid” on behalf of Hadush Kebatu’s victims and he would be deported back to Ethiopia “as quickly as possible”.

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Kebatu, who was found guilty in September of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and a woman in Epping, was freed in error from HMP Chelmsford in Essex on Friday instead of being handed over to immigration officials for deportation.

His accidental release sparked widespread alarm and a manhunt that resulted in him being found and arrested by the Metropolitan Police in the Finsbury Park area of London at around 8.30am on Sunday.

The incident has sparked questions over how the man, whose crimes sparked protests in Epping over the use of asylum hotels, was able to be freed.

Addressing MPs in the House of Commons, Mr Lammy said the mistake should not have happened as he sought to lay part of the blame on to the Conservatives over the state of the prison system over the past 14 years.

He said “there must and there will be accountability” for the mistaken release of Kebatu from prison.

“I’ve been clear from the outset that a mistake of this nature is unacceptable,” he said.

“We must get to the bottom of what happened and take immediate action to try and prevent similar releases in error to protect the public from harm.”

Mr Lammy said he ordered an “urgent review” into the checks that take place when an offender is released from prison, and new safeguards have been added that amount to the “strongest release checks that have ever been in place”.

The justice secretary said the investigation would be led by former Metropolitan Police deputy commissioner Dame Lynne Owens, who also used to lead the National Crime Agency.

He also said the investigation would have the same status as high-profile probes into other prison incidents, including the attack on three prison officers at HMP Franklin in April of this year and the escape of Daniel Khalife from HMP Wandsworth in 2023.

‘Calamity Lammy’

Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick referred to a report by Sky News which detailed how a witness present at the prison observed Kebatu appearing “confused” upon his release.

The witness said Kebatu had in fact tried to go back into the prison several times, but was instead guided to Chelmsford station, where he caught a train to London.

Mr Jenrick claimed the case was proof “the only illegal migrants this government are stopping are those that actually want to leave the UK”.

“Dear oh dear,” he said. “Where to begin? This justice secretary could not deport the only small boat migrant who wanted – no – who tried to be deported.

“Having been mistakenly released, Hadush Kebatu came back to prison asking to be deported not once, not twice, but five times, but he was turned away.”

He went on: “The only illegal migrants this government are stopping are those that actually want to leave the UK.

“His officials, briefing the press, called it the mother of all – yeah, they’re not wrong, are they?”

Mr Jenrick, who served as immigration minister under the previous Conservative government, branded his opposite number “calamity Lammy”.

“It’s a national embarrassment and today the justice secretary feigns anger at what happened.”

Continuing with his attack, Mr Jenrick asked Mr Lammy whether he would resign if Kebatu was not deported “by the end of the week” – to which he received no reply.

But asked later by an MP whether he was considering his position, Mr Lammy replied: “A ridiculous question, the answer is no.”

The new checks announced by Mr Lammy on Monday involve five pages of instructions and require more senior prison staff to sign off a release, according to documents obtained by Sky News.

The instructions are effective from Monday.