House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges Leaks relating to the case of Mr David Laws Seventeenth Report of Session 2010–12 Report and Annex together with formal minutes Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed 12 July 2011 HC 1433 Published on 14 July 2011 By authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00 The Committee on Standards and Privileges The Committee on Standards and Privileges is appointed by the House of Commons to oversee the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards; to examine the arrangements proposed by the Commissioner for the compilation, maintenance and accessibility of the Register of Members’ Interests and any other registers of interest established by the House; to review from time to time the form and content of those registers; to consider any specific complaints made in relation to the registering or declaring of interests referred to it by the Commissioner; to consider any matter relating to the conduct of Members, including specific complaints in relation to alleged breaches in the Code of Conduct which have been drawn to the Committee’s attention by the Commissioner; and to recommend any modifications to the Code of Conduct as may from time to time appear to be necessary. Current membership Rt hon Kevin Barron MP (Labour, Rother Valley) (Chair) Sir Paul Beresford MP (Conservative, Mole Valley) Tom Blenkinsop MP (Labour, Middlesbrough South & East Cleveland) Annette Brooke MP (Liberal Democrat, Mid Dorset and North Poole) Rt hon Tom Clarke CBE MP (Labour, Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) Mr Geoffrey Cox MP (Conservative, Torridge and West Devon) Matthew Hancock MP (Conservative, West Suffolk) Oliver Heald MP (Conservative, North East Hertfordshire) Heather Wheeler MP (Conservative, South Derbyshire) Dr Alan Whitehead MP (Labour, Southampton Test) Powers The constitution and powers of the Committee are set out in Standing Order No. 149. In particular, the Committee has power to order the attendance of any Member of Parliament before the committee and to require that specific documents or records in the possession of a Member relating to its inquiries, or to the inquiries of the Commissioner, be laid before the Committee. The Committee has power to refuse to allow its public proceedings to be broadcast. The Law Officers, if they are Members of Parliament, may attend and take part in the Committee’s proceedings, but may not vote. Publications The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at: www.parliament.uk/sandp. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Eve Samson (Clerk), Mr Richard Kelly (Second Clerk) and Miss Christine McGrane (Committee Assistant). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to The Clerk of the Committee on Standards and Privileges, Journal Office, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6615. Leaks relating to the case of Mr David Laws 1 Contents Report Page Report 3 The process 3 Chronology 3 Conduct of this inquiry 5 Leaks and press speculation 7 Material suggesting briefing or leaks 8 Annex: Summary analysis of press coverage 12 Formal Minutes 19 Leaks relating to the case of Mr David Laws 3 Report The process 1. This Report sets out the findings of the Committee’s investigation into leaks and alleged leaks of documents relating to Rt Hon David Laws MP. There are two documents under consideration: the first is the memorandum submitted by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards (PCS) to the Committee setting out his findings and conclusions; the second is the Committee’s own Report. Before we turn to the details of this case, it will be helpful to outline the normal process of an investigation and report. 2. When the Commissioner has decided to conduct an investigation he collects evidence by means of correspondence and interview. This process can be lengthy, as matters need to be checked and thoroughly explored. Once the investigation is complete he sends the findings of fact to the MP who is the subject of that investigation for agreement. When the facts have been agreed, the Commissioner’s conclusions are added, and the memorandum sent to the Clerk of the Committee on Standards and Privileges. The Clerk has standing instructions from the Committee to send the memorandum both to the Committee itself, and to the Member concerned. This means that he or she has the opportunity to make representations to the Committee in writing or, if the Member desires and the Committee agrees, by giving oral evidence. If the Committee does not receive a request to give oral evidence, a memorandum is usually considered at the meeting the week after it has been circulated, and any report published as soon as possible thereafter. The report is sent to the printer on the day of the meeting. The subject of the complaint is given an advance copy an hour before publication, but the press does not have any embargoed copies. It is desirable to publish the Commissioner’s memorandum and related material at the same time as the Committee’s Report so that the full facts are available. 3. The Commissioner for Standards publishes statistics about his inquiries on his webpages. They indicate, among other things, which inquiries are in train. By comparing entries from one month to another it is possible to deduce whether a memorandum has been sent to the Committee on Standards and Privileges. These statistics are updated once a month. While the Commissioner does not volunteer information about inquiries, his office will answer questions put to it by journalists, such as whether a memorandum has been submitted. Chronology 4. On 29 May 2010 the Daily Telegraph reported that Mr Laws had “used taxpayers’ money to pay more than £40,000 to his long-term partner.” On 31 May 2010 Mr Laws wrote to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards asking him to look at the issues raised by his claims from 2006 to 2009. Mr Laws also repaid the expenses he had claimed over that period, and resigned from his position as Chief Secretary to the Treasury. 5. The Commissioner’s inquiry was extensive, and was not completed until April 2011. During the intervening period there was occasional coverage of the case, often based on the 4 Leaks relating to the case of Mr David Laws original Daily Telegraph story. For example, related stories appeared on the PA newswire on 2 June 2010, 29 July 2010, 17 October 2010 and 24 November 2010.1 Several Freedom of Information requests about Mr Laws’ expenses were also submitted to the House and answered. They were: i. two inquiries about room bookings; ii. an inquiry about the arrangements for Mr Laws’s constituency office; and iii. three inquiries relating to Mr Laws’s repayments of expenses. 6. On Thursday 28 April 2011 the final version of the Commissioner’s memorandum was sent to the Clerk of the Committee on Standards and Privileges as a password protected document. 7. Given the sensitivity of the material, the memorandum was not distributed to Committee Members and to Mr Laws until Tuesday 3 May. Further copies were sent to the Attorney General and the Clerk of the Journals the next day. The document was not sent out electronically: hard copies were delivered by hand, in double envelopes, marked “IN CONFIDENCE: To be opened by addressee only”. The document itself was marked on each page: “Restricted Access: Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards”. The electronic document remained password protected: hard copies were kept securely within the office. 8. Between Tuesday 3 May and the Committee meeting on Tuesday 10 May Committee staff, in consultation with the Chair of the Committee, worked on a draft Report. The draft was password protected. Although at one stage it contained a recommendation for suspension of a number of sitting days, that number was removed during the drafting process. 9. The Commissioner’s website was updated on Thursday 5 May, to remove Mr Laws from the list of current inquiries. Later that day Chris Ship of ITN asked when the Commissioner’s inquiry was likely to conclude and was told the memorandum had been submitted to the Committee. On Friday 6 May Katie Blower of Hanover contacted the Commissioner’s office to confirm that the memorandum had been sent to the Committee; she mentioned that she had picked up the news from Twitter. 10. On Saturday 7 May Brendan Carlin of the Mail on Sunday contacted at least one Committee member to ask about the case. It is clear he also contacted others outside the Committee, since Mr Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat Chief Whip, contacted the Chairman of the Committee to alert him to Mr Carlin’s inquiries. 11. On Sunday 8 May stories about the case appeared in the Mail on Sunday and in the Sunday Times. That evening a piece also appeared on the Guardian website. 12. On Monday 9 May printed articles about the case appeared in the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph, the Financial Times, the Guardian, The Independent, the Belfast Telegraph and the Western Morning News. The Independent’s story includes the line “Mr Lyon also notes 1 Gove pays tribute to ‘honest and principled’ Laws, Esquire tips Laws for swift return to Cabinet, Laws signals hope of frontbench return, Laws set for return to government Leaks relating to the case of Mr David Laws 5 that Mr Laws could have cost the taxpayer more if he had followed the rules in place at the time.” 13. At 22.21 that evening Michael Crick, the political editor of Newsnight, reported on his blog that a source told him that the document was long and complicated and “There will be lots of discussion and lots of questions.” 14.