I am increasingly concerned by the poor example this Government sets in its conduct, it’s lack of respect for the standards in public life and its use of numerous internal investigations to avoid independent scrutiny from public inquiries, the media, the courts and above all Parliament.

The Government seems to think the PM gave a fulsome apology yesterday. He did not. Nor have the many questions been answered. They were not answered in either PMQs or the UQ, they were not answered in the lobby briefing.

An internal investigation into the many reports of gatherings in Government contrary to the guidance the Government issued to the public is necessary but insufficient.

Ministers need to answer questions put to them by MPs in Parliament.

Their testimony should be fully transparent.

Civil servants may investigate the civil service for the purposes of internal disciplinary proceedings but they are not in a position to investigate ministers or make a judgement on the legality of their conduct.

A Government that prizes the sovereignty of Parliament above unelected bureaucrats should recognise that.

The high court ruling this week that the use of VIP procurement lines during covid was unlawful (and it seems also unnecessary) provides another recent example of why the calls for an independent public inquiry into the pandemic response should not just be heeded but be expedited. 

That investigators are not getting the evidence they need due to (mis-)use of private devices for Government business also needs investigating. There should also be an inquiry, including digital forensics, into the Government’s poor record keeping practices. The opaqueness of the evidentiary basis for these internal reports undermines their veracity and rigour.

I have no confidence in these internal investigations. I have no confidence that the Government has any intention of abiding by the ministerial code of upholding the standards of public life.

Our democracy depends on the checks and balances evolved over centuries across the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary. I fear this Government is fatally undermining these. 

Apparently, the only comment on the Government’s conduct that matters is the ballot box. I shall use my vote accordingly.