Speeches by Whittingdale.

“You weren’t involved, but you represent the Cabinet Office and that was the Cabinet Office view at the time.”

“And the former permanent secretary’s view.”

“It took three weeks.”

“Just as a quick follow-up to the questions that Fleur has been asking, you have said that all the documentation around the appointment itself has now been included in the first batch of published documents, and that you have been very rigorous to make sure that it covers that. Why is there no formal record of the actua…”

“Wouldn’t you expect to see further information around this?”

“But what I am talking about is before UKSV had made any recommendation. It is the fact that the Cabinet Office has said that the appointment should not be announced and made until DV had been completed, and yet that was what happened, against the strong advice of the Cabinet Office.”

“So you are continuing to push.”

“I am afraid that Madam Deputy Speaker is coughing at me, so I will not give way. I fear that there is still more to come. I hope that I can say on behalf of the Foreign Affairs Committee that we will continue to pursue this matter.”

“I completely agree with the hon. Lady. It is somehow being suggested by Labour Members that this was about people advising the Prime Minister—I think one speaker earlier said that the Prime Minister had been persuaded to appoint Peter Mandelson. Well, I worked for a Prime Minister, and she coined a phrase: “Advisers ad…”

“Thank you very much, Chair. Colleagues, I am going to move on to other aspects, but I just want to probe a little bit further on one or two of the answers you have already given, Sir Oliver. You have described to us the situation when you arrived in post and the extent to which various steps had already been completed,…”

“This morning’s Foreign Affairs Committee session lasted for two-and-a-half hours. It was certainly one of the more remarkable sessions that I have attended, and I have been involved in a number of quite controversial Select Committee hearings over the years. It showed the Select Committee system at its best, and Member…”

“So you think it should have been obtained before those steps were taken.”

“But even if you hadn’t seen the sheet, you didn’t know that the clear recommendation—final decision—of UKSV was “clearance denied”.”

“I said to you, “You were not aware that the red box saying ‘clearance denied’ had a tick in it.””

“And actually, had approval not been granted, and the position were therefore revoked after agrément had already been obtained, would that have damaged our relations with the United States in your view?”

“And who told you not to tell the Foreign Secretary?”

“But did you tell Ministers at all, or No. 10? You told them the outcome of your decision—the outcome of the meeting—but did you tell them about the recommendation made by UKSV?”

“And who told you not to tell the Foreign Secretary?”

“But even if you hadn’t seen the sheet, you didn’t know that the clear recommendation—final decision—of UKSV was “clearance denied”.”

“The Cabinet Office has been tasked with fulfilling the requirements of the Humble Address. Are you confident that that is being fulfilled to the letter, or are you aware of any other documents that have not yet been published that might help explain what has happened?”