Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove was grilled in Parliament today on openDemocracy’s revelations about the government’s secrecy over large payments to the prime minister and other ministers since last July.
Gove failed to say when details of the payments would be published. Anticipating this, Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves had asked: “If he can't give us that date, should we conclude that the government are deliberately delaying this, to avoid much-needed scrutiny of this government?”
In response, Gove insisted: “Every minister complies with all of the expectations placed on them, not just by the Ministerial Code, but by the Nolan Principles on Standards in Public Life, and it is the case that ministers are transparent.” He did not, however, give any dates or other specifics on when the government would comply with its own code.
