Rishi Sunak appoints head of Historic England as ethics adviser

Published

2 years ago

December 22, 2022

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Rishi Sunak has appointed a new ethics adviser after a six-month vacancy – but the prime minister is facing criticism for maintaining the power to veto any investigation into ministers.

Mr Sunak was under pressure to fill the role after promising to bring “integrity, professionalism and accountability” to government when he entered Downing Street.

The role – officially known as the adviser on ministers’ interests – has been vacant since June, when Lord Geidt became the second person to quit the job under former PM Boris Johnson’s premiership.

On Thursday, Historic England chairman Sir Laurie Magnus was announced as Lord Geidt’s successor.

Sir Laurie will be responsible for advising Mr Sunak on whether government ministers are complying with their code of conduct.

However, the prime minister is the ultimate arbiter of the code, meaning Mr Sunak will have the final say on whether ministers have broken the rules and will decide on any subsequent punishments.

Mr Sunak has been criticised for ignoring a call from the Committee on Standards in Public Life to give the adviser the power to start their own investigation without his permission.

Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has accused Mr Sunak of preserving a “rotten ethics regime” by not extending Sir Laurie’s powers.

“After months of dither and delay, Rishi Sunak has chosen to preserve the rotten ethics regime he inherited from his predecessors that saw the previous two ethics watchdogs walk out,” Ms Rayner said.

“By ignoring the Committee on Standards in Public Life and refusing to grant his ethics adviser genuine independence, this weak prime minister is failing to deliver the integrity he promised and instead has installed yet another toothless watchdog.”

Ms Rayner said Labour will “clean up politics” through the creation of a “genuinely independent Integrity and Ethics Commission will have powers to launch investigations without ministerial approval, collect evidence and decide sanctions”.

Rose Whiffen, senior research officer at Transparency International UK, also said the adviser should have the autonomy to initiate investigations and publish their findings “to restore much-needed credibility to standards in government”.

‘Important role in government’

In a letter to Sir Laurie, Mr Sunak said that an independent adviser played a critically “important role” in government.

“I have sought to identify potential candidates who can demonstrate the critical qualities of integrity and independence, relevant expertise and experience, and an ability to command the trust and confidence of ministers,” he said.

Responding, Sir Laurie said: “I am pleased to accept the appointment. I will endeavour to discharge the important responsibilities of the role with fairness and integrity, in a manner which inspires the confidence of ministers, parliament and the public.”

Mr Sunak had faced questions about the apparent delays in appointing a new ethics adviser after committing to do so in the Tory leadership contest over the summer.

Lord Geidt quit earlier this year after admitting “frustration” over the partygate scandal that saw Mr Johnson fined for breaching his own lockdown rules.

He was the second person to resign as Mr Johnson’s ethics adviser during his less than three years as prime minister.

Sir Alex Allan resigned in 2020 after being overruled by Mr Johnson on his conclusions about the conduct of Priti Patel, the former home secretary, who was accused of engaging in “bullying behaviour”.

Liz Truss, during her brief tenure in Downing Street, had not appointed an ethics adviser.

Reports suggested Mr Sunak had been struggling to find a willing candidate due to the adviser being unable to launch investigations without the PM’s consent.

The lack of an independent adviser was highlighted early in Mr Sunak’s premiership, after the PM was forced to appoint an “independent” investigator to examine the complaints made against Justice Secretary Dominic Raab, in the absence of a permanent ministerial ethics watchdog.

Sir Laurie is the current chair of Historic England, the leading heritage charity, and will take up the adviser role for a non-renewable five-year term.

With a background in financial services and various charities, he is also a former deputy chairman of the National Trust.

UK

‘I think you’re looking for us’: Video shows moment Sara Sharif’s family detained on plane

Published

32 mins ago

November 1, 2024

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'I think you're looking for us': Video shows moment Sara Sharif's family detained on plane

Footage of the moment 10-year-old Sara Sharif’s alleged killers were detained after police boarded their plane back to the UK has been played in court.

As they are approached by officers, Sara‘s stepmother Beinash Batool is heard saying: “I think you’re looking for us.”

Batool, 30, Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 42, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are accused of carrying out a campaign of abuse against her culminating in her death at her family home in Surrey on 8 August last year.

The defendants, along with five of Sara’s siblings, aged between one and 13, flew to Pakistan the following day.

Sara’s body was found by police in a bunkbed on 10 August after Sharif called police from Pakistan to say he had beaten her “too much” for being “naughty”.

A murder investigation was launched involving agencies including Interpol and the National Crime Agency to locate the defendants.

They returned to the UK on a flight from Dubai to Gatwick Airport on 13 September.

The clips of officers’ body-worn video shown to the jury on Friday captured the moment police boarded the plane and detained the defendants at 7.42pm, seven minutes after touchdown.

After Batool addresses the officers, Sharif, who had been sitting next to her, is asked to follow them.

The three were then taken off the plane and arrested.

A post-mortem examination established Sara had sustained extensive and significant injuries over a sustained period prior to her death.

The jury heard on Friday how concerns were raised by Sara’s school about bruising on her body in June 2022 and March 2023.

Several items seized from Sara’s home were also reviewed by the court, including a leather belt which had full DNA samples at both ends for Sara, Sharif, and Malik.

A cricket bat was also found to have Sara’s DNA profile on it, along with the DNA samples of Sharif and Malik.

Neither item had a DNA trace of Batool.

The court also reviewed the defendants’ bank accounts – both joint and separate.

All three defendants have pleaded not guilty to murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.

The trial continues.

UK

Girl, 13, ‘critical’ after being found stabbed next to A63 in Hessle – as six teenagers arrested

Published

32 mins ago

November 1, 2024

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Girl, 13, 'critical' after being found stabbed next to A63 in Hessle - as six teenagers arrested

Six teenagers have been arrested after a 13-year-old girl was found with multiple stab wounds on a roadside near Hull.

Police said she was found around 6.50am on the A63 in Hessle with “life-threatening injuries” including “lacerations to her neck, abdomen, chest and back”.

Four boys and two girls – aged between 14 and 17 – were quickly arrested in a nearby wooded area and are being questioned on suspicion of attempted murder.

Members of the public came to the girl’s aid before emergency services arrived, Humberside Police said.

Detective Superintendent Simon Vickers said they “believe the attackers knew the victim” and the circumstances are still being investigated.

“The girl remains in hospital in critical condition and her family are being supported by officers at this difficult time,” he added.

The boys arrested are aged 14, 15, 16 and 17, and the girls 14 and 15.

Cordons are in place around a wooded area off Ferriby High Road while investigations continue.

Police said they would have an increased presence in the area over the weekend and have asked anyone with information or video to get in touch, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously.

UK

Ex-soldier Daniel Khalife tells court it was a ‘foolish idea’ to have someone with his ‘skillset’ in prison

Published

4 hours ago

November 1, 2024

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Ex-soldier Daniel Khalife tells court it was a 'foolish idea' to have someone with his 'skillset' in prison

A former soldier has told a jury his escape from Wandsworth prison to avoid being held with sex offenders and terrorists showed his “skillset”.

Daniel Khalife, 23, who was being held accused of passing secrets to Iran said he was “never a real spy” but planned a fake defection to the state following his arrest after watching American television show Homeland.

He said he wanted to be moved to a high-security unit because he was getting unwanted attention from the sex offenders on the vulnerable prisoners wing and feared a move to Belmarsh prison because, as a British soldier, terrorists wanted to kill him.

Khalife said he first wanted to “make a show” of escaping, acting suspiciously and covering himself in soot from a food delivery lorry on 21 August last year, while he was working in the prison kitchen.

He was spotted and reported to security but was “pretty shocked” when nothing happened so decided to take the “full measure,” he told the jury.

Talking about his escape for the first time at his Woolwich Crown Court trial, Khalife told how he fashioned a makeshift sling from kitchen trousers and carabiners used by inmates to keep their possessions safe from rats.

He attached it to the Bidfood lorry on 1 September last year, to see if it would be spotted by officers at Wandsworth or other prisons on the delivery route.

“I put the two carabiners and the makeshift rope underneath the lorry,” he said.

“When I had made the decision to actually leave the prison I was going to do it properly so I tested the security not just in Wandsworth

“Strangely, over the coming days, I could see it but it wasn’t spotted in Wandsworth or any other prison.”

Then on the morning of 6 September, Khalife said he concealed himself underneath the lorry, resting his back on the sling as the lorry was searched.

“They did normal checks around with torches but they didn’t find me. After that, a governor came to the tunnel and said, ‘Have you searched the vehicle?’

“I was facing upwards. There was action around the lorry.”

He said that when the vehicle stopped he “came out underneath the lorry and stayed in the prone position” until the lorry moved off.

Khalife, who joined the Army aged 16 and took up a post with the Royal Signals, based in Beacons barracks, Staffordshire, said he made no attempt to leave the country and had no intention to “run away” from the charges he was facing.

He was arrested three days later on the footpath of the Grand Union Canal in Northolt, west London, after a nationwide manhunt.

Asked why he had not handed himself in after his escape, Khalife said: “I was finally demonstrating what a foolish idea it was to have someone of my skillset in prison. What use was that to anyone?”

“I accept that I left the prison and didn’t have any permission to do so,” he said. “I accept absolutely that I shouldn’t have done what I did.”

Inspired by Homeland

The court has heard Khalife initiated contact with Iranian intelligence officers after he was told he could not pass developed vetting because his mother was born in Iran.

Khalife told MI5 he wanted to be a “double agent” and he said in court he thought he would be “congratulated” but described his arrest as like a “punch in the face”.

Wearing a blue checked shirt and chinos, he said police were “blinded at the prospect of a successful prosecution” but he did not think being in prison would be in “the public interest”.

“I didn’t do anything that harmed our national security. I wanted to put myself in a position where I could help my country,” he said.

“I believed I could continue my work actually located in the state – the state being Iran.”

Khalife said he took inspiration from watching Homeland, starring Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, in which Americans and terrorists go undercover, on Netflix.

“I had seen one of the characters in the programme had actually falsely defected to a particular country and utilised that position to further the national security interests of that character’s country,” he said.

“The country in question, Iran, thought it was real. She did it to further the interests of her own country.”

Khalife told jurors he is a “patriot”, adding: “I do love my country. All I wanted to do was help. I never wanted to do any harm, I never did do any harm.”

He added: “It is tragic it has come to this and I would do anything to go back to my career.”

Khalife, from Kingston, southwest London, denies a charge of committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state under the Official Secrets Act between 1 May 2019 and 6 January 2022.

He has also pleaded not guilty to a charge under the Terrorism Act of eliciting information about Armed Forces personnel on 2 August 2021, perpetrating a bomb hoax on or before 2 January 2023 and escaping from prison on 6 September last year.

The trial continues.