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SubscriptionsCategory: Parliament
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Sajid Javid Signs Off £1 Billion Private Health Windfall as MPs Sound Alarm
The Health and Social Care Secretary has agreed an ‘insurance policy’ with private providers, in breach of Treasury spending guidelines, reports David Hencke
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Covering Their Tracks: The Flaws in the Downing Street Parties Inquiry
Sam Bright considers the potential conclusions of Sue Gray’s investigation into the Number 10 lockdown breaches
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MPs Raise the Alarm Over Johnson’s Draconian Elections Bill
A parliamentary committee has found that the Government’s proposals lack transparency and consultation, and fail to provide evidence as to why the changes are “necessary and proportionate”
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Liars Policing the Truth: How Johnson Has Exploited the System
Ed Brown explains how vague protocols and informal codes of conduct have been ruthlessly manipulated by the Prime Minister
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Jobs for the Boys: Women MPs Earn Less Than Half as Male Colleagues from Second Jobs
Analysis from the Byline Intelligence Team reveals a large gender pay gap when it comes to secondary incomes in Parliament
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UK Government Denying Democracy and Ruling by Diktat, Senior Lords Say
David Hencke reports on two committees that condemn the shift of power away from Parliament to ministers through the use of ‘skeleton bills’ and statutory instruments
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Minister Asked to Correct ‘Misleading’ Claim About COVID Contracts
A minister has been accused of making statements that are “categorically not true” in an attempt to defend the Government, Sam Bright reports
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Government Money Goes to Three Companies Employing Conservative MPs in Second Jobs
That these potential conflicts of interest are not cited by the Government when information about grants, contracts or meetings is publicly released raises concern, reports Sam Bright
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Lord Goldsmith’s Government Meeting with Conservative Donor who is an Environmental Investor
The unelected minister’s summit with a Conservative backer is another example of a broken system of ministerial meetings, reports Sam Bright
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20% Increase in Child Poverty in Constituencies Represented by MPs Who Have Earned £6 Million
Sam Bright and Sascha Lavin reveal the rising levels of deprivation seen in the areas represented by the highest-earning MPs
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Predatory Power: I Witnessed the Conservative Party’s Sleaze Culture When I Was an MP
Parliament can often seem like a moral vacuum, says former Labour MP Emma Dent Coad
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The Media’s Selective Policing of ‘Sleaze’
Mic Wright explores the erratic approach of certain outlets to stories of corruption and wrongdoing
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Power and Influence: The Second Jobs Scandal is Indicative of a Broken Society
The sleaze crisis infecting politics shows how Britain is rigged in favour of the rich and influential, says Maheen Behrana
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Where is the Government’s Anti-Corruption ‘Champion’?
Sam Bright explores the role of John Penrose MP, and his unwillingness to call out systemic corruption in the UK
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‘Distorted and Wrong’: Senior Cabal of Conservatives with Johnson’s Ear Put Red Wallers at Risk Over Corruption Scandal, Says MP
Conservative MPs say the Prime Minister’s disastrous attempt to save Owen Paterson from corruption allegations has badly backfired, reports Adam Bienkov
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The Johnson Scandal is Far Sleazier than ‘Cash for Questions’
David Hencke, who broke the story of MPs tabling parliamentary questions on behalf of private interests in 1994, reflects on why Boris Johnson’s actions are a threat of a different kind to Britain’s political system
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Minister’s Shareholding in Vaccine Firm Revealed
Sam Bright digs into the latest declaration of ministerial interests
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How Political Corruption Works in the UK
Sam Bright explores the ways in which party donors and corporate interests are warping British democracy
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Majority of Voters Think Johnson’s Government is Corrupt, Poll Finds
Exclusive polling for Byline Times suggests that people are concerned about the corruption of politics by private-sector interests
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Delegitimise and Overturn: The Paterson Affair is the Latest in a Worrying Pattern of Johnson’s Contempt for Democratic Accountability
The Government’s U-turn is reassuring but should be viewed within the wider context of consistent attempts to dodge scrutiny by Boris Johnson’s administration, says Adam Bienkov
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Natural Injustice: The Collapse in Parliamentary Standards
Former House of Commons clerk Eliot Wilson looks at what the Owen Paterson affair means for probity in public life
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Conservative MPs Opposing Lobbying Suspension have Second Jobs Worth £1 Million
The MPs publicly supporting Andrea Leadsom’s amendment in the Owen Patterson affair have considerable external interests, Sam Bright reveals
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Military Matters: 91% of Veterans from the Main Political Parties are Conservatives
Disparity in political allegiance among veteran MPs, revealed by the Byline Intelligence Team, raises questions of military representation in British political life
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Founders of Koch-Backed COVID Disinformation Organisation Bankroll New Cross-Party Parliamentary Group
Nafeez Ahmed reports on the recently formed APPG on Pandemic Response and Recovery, chaired by a Conservative MP, and which includes climate science deniers among its members
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Three Key Reasons Why Boris Johnson Isn’t Serious About ‘Levelling Up’
Behind the gags, the Prime Minister’s plan for regional redistribution is woefully lacking, says Sam Bright
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Light and Shadows: Law-Makers and Populist Attacks – A Transatlantic Comparison
Amid the multiple similarities between the populism of Donald Trump and Brexit, Peter Jukes and Heidi Siegmund Cuda look at the stark differences between the way in which the UK Parliament and the US Congress deal with threats to democracy
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The Death of the Last Good Chap
Why do those in positions of power now evade accountability despite numerous examples of incompetence, dangerous liaisons, lies, and even corruption at the heart of Boris Johnson’s Government? Because the British political system allows them to, says Gavin Esler
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‘Dancing Queen?’: The Fixed Term Parliaments Act and the Return of the Royal Prerogative
Historian Robert Saunders considers the constitutional consequences of a new bill which transfers the power to dissolve Parliament to the Crown and removes checks on the Prime Minister
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Subverting the ‘Will of the People’: How Brexit Sowed the Wind
Chris Grey explores the forces unleashed by Brexit and how they reveal the weaknesses of Britain’s unwritten Constitution – vulnerable in its reliance on norms and conventions to deliver representative democracy
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Watch Your Tone! How Women MPs of Colour are Tone-Policed
n the same week that Dawn Butler was expelled from the House of Commons, MP Dr Rosena Allin-Khan was ‘tone-policed’ by a white MP – and not for the first time. Sian Norris analyses a worrying trend
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‘What is he Doing for his Wage?’: Lord Philip Hammond’s Revolving Door Continues
ust two years after leaving office, the former Chancellor and life peer is now free to lobby the Government on behalf of businesses registered in tax havens and set up by Conservative peers
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‘Good Chaps’ Left the Building a While Ago, Britain – It’s Time to Wake Up
Hardeep Matharu argues that Labour MP Dawn Butler’s removal from the House of Commons after calling Boris Johnson a ‘liar’ finally exposed the structural failings at the heart of the British state
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Raising Racism: Are We Witnessing Progress in How Parliament Discusses Race?
Natasha Livingstone looks at the data around the use of the term in Parliament and explores its importance
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Boris Johnson Halts Update to Government Conduct ‘Bible’
The Cabinet Manual is 10 years out of date, yet the Prime Minister has shelved plans to refresh it, reports David Hencke
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The Death Of Convention
Stephen Colegrave considers how Boris Johnson has used the vagueness and vulnerability of Britain’s unwritten constitution to erode democracy
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Hancock Plans to Hide his Health Data Grab From Parliamentary Scrutiny
The collection of medical information proposed by the Health and Social Care Secretary could have vast consequences, despite limited oversight, reports David Hencke
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Unaccountable Chaos: Scathing Lords Report Criticises Government COVID Response
Downing Street dodged Parliament and sowed confusion, a new House of Lords review has concluded
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Lords Raise ‘Grave Concerns’ about Brexit’s Impact on Family Law, Crime and Justice
UK law enforcement can no longer immediately access real-time data about persons and objects of interest, including wanted and missing persons
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UK in Brexit Limbo with EU Disputes Resolution Bodies Still Not Set Up, Say Lords
Twenty-five committees and five study groups to cover almost every conceivable area of interest between the EU and UK have still not been established
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Where’s Gove? Minister Accused of Being ‘Contemptuous’ by MPs After Committee Appearance Snub
The Cabinet Office Minister has been pilloried for failing to appear before a parliamentary committee that has been investigating the Government’s lockdown decisions
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A Selection of Misleading Statements Made by Boris Johnson and Ministers on the Floor of the House of Commons: July 2019 – December 2020
A selected list of misleading statements that Peter Oborne has sent to the Speaker of the House of Commons
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Government’s Planned Election Spending Limit Hike to Benefit Conservatives
The move, along with other changes such as a constituency boundary review for the 2024 General Election, is set to provide an advantage to the ruling party
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Brexit has Revived the Power of the Unelected Aristocracy
David Frost’s latest promotion shows how the ‘democratic’ Brexit project has in fact emboldened unaccountable, hereditary power, contends Sam Bright
