Reporting Ministerial Gifts and Hospitality

Brendan O'Hara Excerpts

Monday 14th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[Ellie Reeves]

Of course the Modernisation Committee will look incredibly closely at the issue of second jobs.

[Brendan O’Hara (Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber) (SNP)]

In June 2022, the now Deputy Prime Minister said:

“Honesty matters, integrity matters and decency matters. We should be ambitious for high standards, and we should all be accountable”.—[Official Report, 7 June 2022; Vol. 715, c. 680.]

Labour promised change, but the truth is that this is not that different from the sleaze that went before. What the public see is the Labour party saying, “It is our turn now.” The parties are acting like peas in a pod. Can the Minister tell us why, having showered an assortment of gifts on the Prime Minister and other Cabinet colleagues, Lord Alli was given a triple-A pass to Downing Street? Who requested that the pass be given, and exactly what was the pass used for?

[Ellie Reeves]

I agree with those words from the Deputy Prime Minister. What I do not accept is the suggestion of equivalence with those on the Conservative Benches, when the former Prime Minister was fined for breaking lockdown rules. While people up and down the country were sticking to the rules, often at great personal sacrifice, those in No. 10 were partying and breaking the rules, and at the same time their friends and donors were given fast-track routes for their covid contracts, so I do not accept that there is equivalence. Everything has been properly declared and we want to make the rules around transparency even greater.

Anniversary of 7 October Attacks: Middle East

Brendan O'Hara Excerpts

Monday 7th October 2024 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I certainly agree that all lives should be cherished, and I think that is the position across the House. As I have said, de-escalation and a ceasefire is the only way forward, which is why we are working so hard on it.

[Brendan O’Hara (Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber) (SNP)]

While I welcome the Prime Minister’s call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, there is so much more he can do to bring that about. As South Africa’s Foreign Minister said, the decision to stop the fighting in Gaza is in the hands of those who supply Israel with weapons. He knows that international law does not differentiate between offensive weapons and defensive weapons, so why does he continue to license 90% of weapon sales to Israel when there is ample proof that UK weapons are still being used to prolong this catastrophe?

[The Prime Minister]

For the reason I have twice stated. If the sale of weapons for defensive use by Israel were banned, that is a position I could not countenance a year after 7 October. It is not a position I could countenance in the face of attacks by Iran. The whole House saw the number of missiles coming over into Israel only the other day. The idea that we could say we support Israel’s right to defend herself, and at the same time deprive her of the means to do so, is so wholly inconsistent that it will never be my position.