#public-life

#public-life

A Tory minister who served under Suella Braverman at the Home Office is among high-profile MPs to have wrongly claimed hundreds of pounds in driving fines on expenses, The Independent can reveal.Amanda Solloway, who is now a minister in the energy department, claimed back an 80 fixed penalty notice issued to her while she was driving in London in July 2020, listing it under MP travel expenses.

MPs claiming driving fines on expenses is manifestly wrong, the chair of Parliament's sleaze watchdog has said.Labour MP Chris Bryant said members of the public cannot claim fines on their daily expenses, adding that MPs should not be any different.The senior party figure also said the ministerial code is ripe for reform, and the system is not fit for purpose, Mr Bryant's intervention came after The Independent revealed a Tory minister who served under Suella Braverman at the Home Office is among high-profile MPs to have wrongly claimed hundreds of pounds in driving fines on expenses Amanda Solloway, who is now a minister in the energy department, claimed back an 80 fixed penalty notice issued to her while she was driving in London in July 2020, listing it under MP travel expenses.

Rishi Sunak has been urged to launch an investigation into Suella Braverman's handling of a speeding offence, as the scandal that threatens to deepen rifts in the Tory party.The prime minister is said to be considering emails in which Whitehall officials raised concerns to the Cabinet Office's propriety and ethics team about Ms Braverman's request for help to arrange a private speed awareness course.

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email The Independent has launched a petition calling on Rishi Sunak to block Boris Johnson's plan to give an honour to his father.In his resignation honours' list, the former prime minister has put his father, Stanley, forward for an award.

On Wednesday morning, Judge Heather Hallett, head of the Covid inquiry, was still dismayed by the ongoing absence of the elusive government WhatsApp messages.Like King Arthur in reverse, the government WhatsApp messages slept silently in a cave for eons, only to disappear in Albion's hour of need.The previous week, the Cabinet Office had declared it deemed the WhatsApp messages too irrelevant to be worth submitting to the scrutiny of the judge.

Road safety campaigners have accused the UK home secretary of trying to downplay the dangers of speeding after she reportedly requested a private speed awareness course after being caught driving over the speed limit.Suella Braverman became the latest minister to be caught committing a road traffic offence when she was clocked speeding last summer when she was attorney general.

It has proved fortunate for Boris Johnson that his government chose last year to drop plans to cap how much MPs could make from second jobs outside parliament.Nine months later, the former prime minister has benefited from more than 2.5m in earnings from speeches, hospitality, free accommodation, gifts and donations to his new company, The Office of Boris Johnson.

Keir Starmer has billed a Labour plan to overhaul the constitution, including greater devolution and abolishing the House of Lords, as an attempt to seek longer-term political solutions rather than what he called sticking plaster politics.Ahead of the formal launch in Leeds on Monday of the 40-point plan written by Gordon Brown, the Labour leader rejected the idea that voters would be less interested in such reforms than in cost of living issues, saying many day-to-day problems were exacerbated by a fixation on short-term thinking.