18 Apr Minister defends PM over failure to declare an interest in family business
POLICING Minister Chris Philp has defended Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over his failure to declare his wife’s interest in a childcare agency.
He told GB News: “No one really doubts Rishi’s integrity and ethics. He has declared, as he said to the committee at the time and in his subsequent letter on 4 April, that he has declared his wife’s interests in his ministerial declaration.
“He did draw attention to that to the committee when he gave evidence and he also wrote to them subsequently as well.
“Obviously, he’ll work with the Standards Commissioner to clear up any questions that are outstanding, but I don’t think there’s anything sinister here. He has made his ministerial declaration.”
In a discussion during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, he said: “He has declared his interests as a minister in his Cabinet Office return and he’ll be working with the commissioner to clear up any outstanding questions, but I don’t think there’s anything sinister here.
“The announcement he was talking about, to get more money into childcare, to provide free childcare for children up to the age of four and get more people to train as childminders, those are policies that all of us can get behind.”
Asked about the Just Stop Oil protest at the World Snooker Championship, he said: “I do take this very seriously, this shouldn’t be happening. I hope those concerns get prosecuted…
“The Public Order Bill has almost completed its passage through Parliament and that gives the police enhanced powers to deal with disruptive protests and the public are sick of having their day to day lives disrupted by these protesters who are trying to deliberately ruin the lives of fellow citizens, whether it’s blocking streets or whether it’s disrupting sporting events.
“I don’t think people appreciate that at all, of course we have the right to peaceful protest but that does not extend to the right to deliberately disrupt other people’s day to day lives, getting to work, getting to hospital, nor does it extend to deliberately disrupting legitimate sporting events.”
