The SNP tabled an urgent question in Westminster today, asking for an update on the ministerial code in light of recent allegations of impropriety – something of course their comrades in Holyrood would know all about. A potentially tricky outing for the government beckoned but up stepped Michael Gove, master of the sticky wicket, to bat away the opposition spinmeisters and dig his hapless captain out of trouble again.
Fortunately for Gove some Tory MPs were on hand to provide softball ‘questions’ that were more of gentle underhand throw than a fiendish googly. A case in point was 2019-er Andrew Griffith, who lent his £9.5 million townhouse to Boris Johnson’s campaign during the latter’s successful leadership bid. Referencing Alison Thewliss, the SNP MP for Glasgow Central, Griffith eagerly asked Gove whether he agreed that the government was actually doing rather well on the transparency front:
Does my right honourable friend agree that this UK government is almost painfully transparent by any yardstick and that while sessions such as this may be an inevitable part of the disinfecting oxygen of publicity, it is a bit rich for the honourable member for Glasgow Central to raise concerns when they want the UK to rejoin the EU, a body which hasn’t had its audit signed off for decades?
Gove, sporting a healthy post-Israel tan, did his best to respond with the gravitas such a question deserved:
Well my honourable friend makes an important point, governments of all stripes can always do better but I think it is fair to say that over generations and across parties, that there’s been a determined effort by our prime ministers to do everything they can in order to make sure that our democracy stays healthy.
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