Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones took quite the swipe at Reeves yesterday for her contested chess champion claims. Speaking on the committee considering the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, which will introduce the impossible ‘Duty of Candour’ on officials, she said of measures in the bill:
“This will avoid capturing minor incidences of lying or misleading on trivial, political or private matters. The act must have caused, or had the potential to cause, harm. Harm, as we’ve already discussed, Sir Roger, is broadly defined. It does include economic, physical or psychological harm, including distress. The purpose of this is to avoid capturing inconsequential matters, for example a minister lying about where they went to university, or maybe competing in a chess tournament, or a local government official overstating their council’s performance. While these sort of lies should entail professional consequences we do not think they meet the bar for criminal sanctions.”
Quite the attack from the Chancellor’s own side. Reeves not the most popular Labour politician right now…
Guido reported in full on Reeves’ troublesome chess claims all the way back in late 2024 and everyone else has now followed up on the reporting. Better late than never…
If the bill operates retroactively then Richard Hermer should prosecute Reeves and her team for the misleading statements and in some cases outright mistruths put out in the run up to the Budget. That would set the tone for truly honest government…
