Bernard jenkin

Ah, the Standards Committee. Where would we be without the parliamentary watchdog? The 14 men and women who sit on this panel have a noble task: policing behaviour within the Commons by overseeing the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner, Kathryn Stone.  Half the committee are lay members, who cannot ever have been members of either chamber; the others are seven MPs drawn from across the House. But unfortunately it seems that some of these MPs have been exhibiting less than exemplary behaviour that you might expect from those in such an exalted position. Take the committee’s chair, Chris Bryant. He was forced to declare in June that, almost two years late,

Brandon Lewis – Our position on free school meals ‘is the right one’ Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford’s campaign to extend the provision of free school meals over the school holidays has seen the government facing considerable criticism, with Labour forcing a vote on the issue in the House of Commons last Wednesday, which was defeated by 61 votes. A rift has even developed within the Conservative party itself, with Robert Halfon, chair of the Education Select Committee, writing in the Spectator on the conservative case for the extension. Sophy Ridge asked the Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis why the government was holding out against the campaign: BL: I think