Downing Street has defended the UK home secretary Suella Braverman following reports over the weekend that she asked civil servants to help her avoid speeding points on her driving licence.
Braverman was caught speeding by the police last summer, as first reported by the Sunday Times newspaper. The minister, who was attorney-general at the time, was reportedly given a range of options, including attending a speeding course alongside other members of the public, or having three penalty points on her licence.
The paper revealed that Braverman requested help from civil servants and her political aide to arrange a private one-to-one speeding awareness course — not offered to other drivers — but later accepted points on her licence when that request was declined.
A spokesperson for the home secretary did not deny the allegations, but stated: “Ms Braverman accepts that she was speeding last summer and regrets doing so. She took the three points and paid the fine last year.”
Challenged on whether Sir Laurie Magnus, the independent adviser to ministerial interests, would be investigating the matter, and whether he had full confidence in his home secretary, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said Braverman had “expressed regret” over the incident.
“I don’t know the full details of what has happened, nor have I spoken to the home secretary,” Sunak said during a press conference at the G7 conference in Hiroshima. “I think you can see first hand what I have been doing over the last day or so but I understand that she’s expressed regret for speeding, accepted the penalty, and paid the fine.”
Downing Street later stressed that the prime minister “of course” had confidence in his home secretary.
These reports come after Braverman was accused of launching a thinly veiled leadership bid last week, in a 4,000 word speech reiterating the importance of reducing “legal migration” as well as crossings on the English Channel.
Her department is braced for new net migration figures from the Office for National Statistics that analysts predict could rise to 700,000 from slightly more than 500,000 in the year to June 2022.
On Sunday, environment secretary Thérèse Coffey denied suggestions that Braverman’s actions showed that ministers believed they were above the rules.
“As the prime minister said this morning, she has taken points, she had the option to do a speed course, she hasn’t done that, she regrets the speeding, and that’s all the information I have,” she told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg.
“I don’t think government ministers do think that they are above the rules . . . pretty much everyone has the option to pay a fine, take the points or go on a course,” she said.
Opposition parties have now urged Sunak to launch a public inquiry investigating whether the cabinet minister broke the ministerial code and clarifying what the prime minister knew and when.
“I think Rishi Sunak should launch an investigation into it,” shadow health minister Liz Kendall told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday. “He should ask the independent adviser whether she has breached the standards of the ministerial code here.”
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said: “Time and time again, Sunak has put Conservative politicians who think they are above the rules in his cabinet — and, every time, they have taken the British people for fools. The home secretary must undergo an urgent investigation. Every second she doesn’t is another blow to the integrity of this already sleaze-ridden prime minister.”
The Cabinet Office said: “It would not be appropriate to comment on the existence or content of advice between government departments.”