| Andrew Mitchell quizzed on aid to Rwanda: Politics live blog • Andrew Mitchell's evidence on Rwanda - Summary
• David Cameron's interview on This Morning - Summary
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• Afternoon summary  Andrew Mitchell is being questioned by MPs about his decision to pay a £16m grant to Rwanda on his final day as international development secretary. Photograph: Nick Ansell/PA Sort by: - Latest first
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Afternoon summary • Downing Street has criticised the ITV This Morning presenter Philip Schofield for confronting Cameron with a list of supposed Tory paedophiles. Schofield's behaviour was "irresponsible", a Downing Street source said. "This silly stunt has resulted in people's names being put out there." Schofield has apologised for the fact some of the names on the list may have been visible to viewers and he has said he had no intention of contributing to a witch hunt. This is what he said in a statement. If any viewer was able to identify anyone listed, I would like to apologise and stress that was never my intention. I was not accusing anyone of anything and it is essential that it is understood that I would
never be part of any kind of witch hunt. Unfortunately there may have been a misjudged camera angle for a split second as I showed the prime minister some information I had obtained from the internet. I asked for his reaction to give him the opportunity to make a point which he very clearly made about the dangers of any witch hunt. • President Obama has told David Cameron of his commitment to the "outstanding partnership between Britain and America. He made the comment after Cameron called him to congratulate him on his re-election. That's all for today. Thanks for the comments. Here's an afternoon reading list. It would be a mistake to assume that the stories people regard as unimportant have no impact on them politically. The findings, especially of the unprompted question, show that people do register the petty things. They may protest that these incidents are irrelevant, but their view of a government or party can only be shaped by the things they hear about. In an ideal world, the media would pay more attention to the big things and devote less time to the Chancellor's railway mishaps and other ephemera. But frustratingly, it is true both that most people do not hear a political message until well past the point at which politicians are sick of repeating it, and that they are more likely to notice small things than big speeches or policy announcements. It means the parties need to work all the harder to shift attention to what they want the story to be about. One person who has seen it describes its appearance as "like a cross between the data.gov.uk site and the [iPad-based] Flipboard app". If successful, access to the app – which can be viewed on any PC or tablet – could be rolled out across government to give senior ministers and officials real-time access to sensitive information.  Henry Moore's sculpture Draped, Seated Woman Photograph: PA Wire/PA The decision to sell this iconic work by a key British artist is extremely disappointing. Whilst I appreciate that the council needs to find ways to deal with the prevailing economic climate, I believe more could be done to enable Draped Seated Woman to remain in East London. This is a statue that was sold at a bargain price by Henry Moore to the London county council for the benefit of local people in Tower Hamlets. The Museum of London in Docklands has offered 'Old Flo' a home and it will be a tragedy if nothing can be done to ensure it goes back on public display in the borough as originally intended. I urge the council to reconsider and that more time is given to find a solution. Lunchtime summary • The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children has said there should be an over-arching "lessons learnt" inquiry into child abuse. Andrew Flanagan, NSPCC chief executive, said: "The NSPCC believes that the Government should now commit to an overarching 'lessons learned' review to pull together the findings from all the current inquiries into child abuse, once they are completed. There is a need to ensure that the public has confidence that the numerous inquiries under way will result not only in justice for people who have suffered abuse, but improvements to the way we protect today's children." Cameron told ITV that he was not ruling out an inquiry of this nature, but that if it were held now, it would hold up the police investigation into abuse. (See 12.07pm.) • Andrew Mitchell has told MPs that he was not acting as a "rogue minister" when he took the controversial decision to resume aid payments to Rwanda just before he left office as international development secretary. Cameron and William Hague supported the decision, he said in evidence to the international development committee. (See 11.16am.) • Philip Hammond, the defence secretary, has revealed that companies that discriminate against members of the Territorial Army could be sued under the same kind of laws that protect women and ethnic minorities. Hammond made the announcement as he unveiled plans to boost the role of the TA. Here's the MoD news release. • The Foreign Office has said that its staff should learn from the French - because French diplomats are the best in the world. • G4S, the private company at the centre of the Olympic security debacle, has lost its contract to run Britain's first private prison and failed to win any new contracts in the biggest round of prison privatisation in England and Wales so far. • A court has heard that the former Labour MP Margaret Moran received £53,000 by making false expenses claims. As the Press Association reports, Moran was found unfit to stand trial at Southwark crown court due to mental health issues, so the proceedings are taking place in her absence. Rather than finding her guilty, jurors have to decide whether Moran did commit the acts alleged in the charges, and whether they amount to the offences with which she is charged. • Carwyn Jones, the Welsh first minister, has said that having a referendum on membership of the EU could hasten the break-up of the United Kingdom. • The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said that the £50m National Scholarship Programme, a scheme to help the poorest students go to university is too complicated. • New figures have revealed that public spending on science and innovation has fallen even faster than previously acknowledged, despite a firm government pledge to protect spending in this area. • The Department for Business has conceded that injured employees will receive far less compensation under proposals aimed at preventing "over-compliance with health and safety at work regulations". • A YouGov poll has revealed that 77% of people think Nadine Dorries was wrong to take part in I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here. Some 73% of people also think the Tories were right to remove the whip from her. John Lyon, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, has also confirmed that he's received a complaint claiming her appearance on the programme breaches the MPs' code of conduct. For more on Dorries's exploits in the jungle, try the Daily Mail, where she's got the whole of page 3 under the headline: "Nadine MP for (Sun) Beds." But on his blog Michael White imagines how a stint in the jungle could do wonders for Dorries's career. That morning I'd spoken to a senior journalist at the BBC who'd covered the North Wales care home abuse story in the early 1990s. He had heard the Messham allegations several times over the past 20 years, was deeply sceptical about them and could not see what had suddenly impelled Newsnight to put them on air. Or rather, he thought he could see: Savile. Nevertheless, based, as far as I can see, solely on Mr Messham's appearance, the Government on Tuesday announced what was, in effect, a re-inquiry into the exhaustive Waterhouse Inquiry into abuse in North Wales care homes, which had reported in 2000. The announcement repeated Mr Messham's solicitor's line that Waterhouse had had too limited a remit to inquire properly into the idea of an abuse network. I have to say that having read chapter 52 of the report I find it quite hard to accept that claim. I also note that John Jillings, who chaired the first local inquiry, in the early 1990s, into abuse in North Wales, had no recollection of Mr Messham claiming that a senior political figure was one of the abusers. Mr Messham has claimed abuse at the hands of many, many people. David Cameron on ITV's This Morning - Summary I was typing furiously when Philip Schofield handed David Cameron a list of alleged Tory paedophiles and asked him if he had spoken to them and I was not watching the screen, but, according to Guido Fawkes, at least two names were quite clear. As a stunt it probably made good TV, but it was tacky (not least because it gave credence to internet allegations, some of which are very, very spurious) and it left Cameron looking uncomfortable. He gave a robust warning about witch hunts, but, when Schofield asked him if he would be speaking to them, he would have been better to say: "No, I'm not a police officer, but we've ordered the head of the National Crime Agency to investigate and that's a job for him." Here's a summary of the main points. • Cameron said the north Wales abuse scandal should not lead to a "witch hunt" against people in public life. He said he was particularly concerned about people who are gay becoming the victims of this kind of scare. He made the comments when Philip Schofield handed him a list of Tory figures who are being named on the internet as abusers. This is what Cameron said in reply. This is really important. Because there is a danger, if we are not careful, that this could turn into a witch hunt, particularly against people who are gay. And I'm worried about the sort of thing you're doing right now, giving me a list of names that you have taken off the internet. As I say, if anyone has any information about anyone who is a paedophile, no matter how high up in British society they are, that is what the police are for. I would say to Tom Watson and to all these people who are, quite rightly enquiring into all of this, if you have got information, we are a civilised, democratic country, under the rule of law, with a police force, with a justice system, go to the police. Cameron also said that some of the people alleged to have been involved in abuse are dead. • He said that holding a single, all-encompassing inquiry into abuse (which is what Labour wants) would hold up the investigation. "The idea that if you had one mega inquiry, that you would speed everything up, I'm not sure is true," he said. But he also confirmed that the government was not ruling out holding a single inquiry at some point in the future. • He said that the chief whip's decision to suspend the whip from Nadine Dorries was "very sensible". "I want Conservative MPs in the House of Commons doing things that the Conservative party and the country support," he said. • He rejected suggestions that Dorries was being treated more harshly than Andrew Mitchell. It was put to him that Dorries, who has been rude about Cameron, was punished quickly while Mitchell, who was rude to a policemen, was allowed to stay in his job for several weeks. But Cameron said the two cases were not the same. I think the two cases are quite different ... In the case of Nadine Dorries, if you are in the Australian jungle, you can't really be representing your constituents either in Bedfordshire or in parliament. • He announced the government was spending an extra £10m on dementia research. We can do amazing things in our world. We can crack killer diseases. We can save lives on the other side of the world. We should be doing more here at home on this subject. I think there are signs that if you diagnose it earlier there are better chances of drugs working, and the tragedy at the moment is that, with almost three quarters of a million people with dementia, less than half of those have actually been diagnosed. Get to them faster, research the drugs, and let's try and crack this disease, which tragically is going to affect one million people soon in our country. ITV's This Morning is back, but David Cameron isn't. That didn't last long. It hardly seemed worth it, particularly as the Philip Schofield stunt with the names on the piece of paper made Cameron look is if he somehow engaged in an establishment cover-up. I'll post a summary in a moment. Updated at 11.47am GMT  David Cameron Photograph: ITV Cameron is now talking about today's dementia initiative. (See 9.27am.) He says that, in addition to the dementia friends scheme, the government is also announcing an extra £10m for dementia research. They've now gone to an ad break. I'm not sure if that's it, or if he's coming back. Cameron is now being asked about north Wales. Q: Do you know the names of the Tories alleged to have been involved in abuse? Cameron says he knows some names being bandied around. But there are lots of rumours. Q: Here's a piece of paper with some names. Will you speak to these three people? Cameron says this is what he's worried about. He does not want there to be a witch hunt against gay people. Q: Shouldn't there be a single inquiry? Cameron says he does not rule out having a single inquiry. Updated at 11.54am GMT David Cameron on ITV's This Morning David Cameron is on ITV's This Morning now. He has just defended the Conservatives' decision to suspend the whip from Nadine Dorries. She cannot do her job properly while in the Australian jungle, he said. He said that the Andrew Mitchell case was different. Updated at 11.18am GMT Andrew Mitchell's evidence to MPs on Rwanda - Summary Here is a summary of the key points from the Andrew Mitchell hearing. The press have suggested that a rogue minister can sign cheques under the bed clothes and bung them out to dubious leaders. That is completely untrue. It is very insulting. I take deep offence at the suggestion that I would ever behave in that way. • He rejected claims that the Conservative party was showing favouritism to Rwanda because of the party's social action project, Project Umubano, in the country. It was Britain that has a close relationship with Rwanda, he said. That applied when Labour was in power. • He claimed that Britain was not significantly out of step with other international donors when it decided to resume aid payments to Rwanda in September. • He conceded that Britain did not know for certain that Rwanda was not giving practical support to the M23 rebel group when it decided to resume aid payments to Rwanda. The Labour MP Richard Burden said that Mitchell told David Cameron in August that practical support from Rwanda for M23 had ended. But, under questioning, Mitchell admitted that this was only a judgment, and that a final assessment would not be possible until a group of international experts publish their final report later this year. • Mitchell said he knew he was going to become chief whip a week before the appointment was announced. Updated at 1.23pm GMT The hearing is over. Andrew Mitchell largely emerged unscathed, although Richard Burden (easily the most forensic questioner on the committee) had him on the defensive when trying to get him to explain why the government reversed its aid policy when questions about Rwanda backing the M23 rebels were still unresolved. (See 10.36am.) I'll post a summary soon. Labour's Fiona O'Donnell goes next. Q: You have been accused of being a "rogue minister". In the 53 days between you delaying aid and reinstating it, did you have any conversations with President Kagame or his officials in his government which were not witnessed by your officials? Mitchell says his conversations with Kagame were always listened to by officials. He says he has given details of his meetings in Rwanda. He behaved with "total propriety", he says. Q: Why did you not register some of your personal interest in projects in Rwanda. Mitchell says he was a volunteer in the Conservative's Project Umubano. After he became secretary of state, he was not involved in running it. Sir Malcom Bruce takes over. Q: It has been suggested that the Conservatives were too close to Kagame because of Project Umubano. How do you respond to that? Mitchell says Britain has a close relationship with Rwanda. That applied when Labour was in power too. Q: So why did have all other donors who suspended aid to Rwanda still suspended aid? Mitchell says Britain is "in the middle of the pack" in relation to policy towards Rwanda. Q: Will this episode persuade the Rwandans to be much more proper? Yes, says Mitchell. Rwanda has had a "much more difficult" relationship with donors this year. Mitchell says he hopes this will have an impact on the country. Bruce says that's it. But, before the hearing finishes, Mitchell asks if he can quote what the DfID permanent secretary told the public accounts committee about this decision on 24 October. Mitchell quotes from what the permanent secretary said, including his assertion that he had no concerns about the propriety of the payment. Jeremy Lefroy goes next. Q: You suspend payments to put pressure on a government. Did that happen in this case? The M23 is a terrible organisation. Did the suspension of aid help to stop it? Mitchell says the M23 is a mutiny. "Britain and other countries take a very tough line on mutineers," he says. The ceasefire has held, he says. That has helped people, particularly women and children. The answer to this question will determine whether the government pays the next installment of aid due towards the end of this year. Labour's Richard Burden is asking questions again. Mitchell says the US and the EU did not change their aid to Rwanda. Burden queries that. Mitchell says the US cut its military aid. But it did not cut its development programme, he says. Given the situation in the Kivu region, it would have been surprising if the Americans had not cut their military aid. Q: Did the Americans respond to the leaked interim UN report? Mitchell says the leaked report was a fact. And then the Americans suspended their military aid. Q: Did you or David Cameron tell Rwanda, after aid was delayed, what it had to do to ensure aid was reinstated? Mitchell says he had a conversation with President Kagame on 28 July. It was "pretty clear" from that what the British government's concerns were. Q: Were you saying to Kagame, 'if you don't cooperate with the peace talks, we will suspend aid'? Mitchell says that he told Kagame Britain was concerned about what was happening in the Kivu region. Q: Why did you suspend it in the first place if the assessment you made later was right? Because we had to find out what was happening, Mitchell says. "We delayed until we worked out what was the right thing to do." Q: But when we ask you about alleged support for M23, you say that the government did not know what was going to happen and was going to have to wait until the final UN report. So why did you reinstate aid before that aid came out? Mitchell says budget support relieves poverty. If Britain had not had concerns, it would have made the payments on time. Updated at 12.39pm GMT Mitchell says around 6% of budget support to Rwanda was being used to fund its national audit office to ensure money was being spent properly. Jeremy Lefroy, a Conservative, is asking the questions now. He says that Mitchell says in his letter to David Cameron in August (which has been shown to the committee) that the government judged that the Rwandans had stopped giving practical support to M23. Mitchell confirms this. Labour's Fiona O'Donnell is asking the questions now. Q: Do you think the Rwandan government has given practical support to M23? Mitchell says he does not know. The Rwanda government deny it. But the international group of experts do not accept that. We will have to wait until later this month for the end of this month. Q: Given the uncertainty, don't you think you should have withheld the money? Mitchell says some money was withheld precisely for this reasons. Q: Did you consult other countries about making the payment to Rwanda? Mitchell says the department told other countries what it was doing. Q: Did other countries support you? Mitchell says no other country tried to convince Britain otherwise. Updated at 12.38pm GMT McGovern is now asking about the timing of the decision. Mitchell says that he knew that he was going to be made chief whip a week before he was appointed. That allowed him to make decisions before he left so that he could clear the decks for his successor, Justine Greening, he says. Labour's Alison McGovern is asking the questions now. Q: Did you consult fully in government on this? Cameron says relations in the coalition are "harmonious". He always kept Ed Llewellyn, the prime minister's chief of staff, in the loop about the decisions he was taking. Labour's Richard Burden is asking the questions now. He says Cameron set three conditions for aid to Rwanda being reinstated. They were: 1) Constructively engaging in peace talks; 2) Public condemnation of the M23 rebel group; and 3) A continuing ceasefire in the Kivu region and the end of practical support for the M23 group. Mitchell says the British government judged that two of the conditions had been met in part, but not the one about public condemnation of M23. Updated at 11.02am GMT Mitchell sets out the four principles that were used to decide whether to continue with budget support to Rwanda. 1. Poverty reduction. 2. Respecting human rights. 3. Improving public financial management. 4. Supporting domestic accountability. Rwanda was making progress on two of these, and standing still on two others, he says. Mitchell says Britain took its own decisions in relation to Rwanda. It did what it thought was right. Its programme was designed to relieve poverty. Mitchell says he thinks the decision was right.  Andrew Mitchell Photograph: Parliament TV Q: Did you come under pressure from other countries to suspend aid to Rwanda? Mitchell says Britain did not "go out on a limb". It was pretty much "in the middle of the pack" in relation to policy towards Rwanda. Q: But did you come under pressure to suspend aid? No, says Mitchell. Bruce is still asking questions. Q: Other countries were still assessing Rwandans behaviour. Why did you not wait until those assessment were concluded? Mitchell says Rwanda was one of the countries where aid was being used effectively. Taking away budget support would not affect the elite. But it would take girls out of school, he says. Britain's relationship is with Rwanda, he says. Both parties have had a "candid" relationship with the Kagame regime. Mitchell says he was very "blunt" with Kagame about what was going on in the DRC. The final report of the international group of experts is not due until November. That will allow Justine Greening, the new international development secretary, to decide whether the second tranche of money should be awarded to Rwanda. Sir Malcolm Bruce, the committee chairman, starts. He says it will be a short inquiry. He says the commitee has received contradictory written evidence. Q: Why did you originally suspend aid to Rwanda? Mitchell says there has been "over-heated and ill-informed" comment on his in the press, both about the decision he took and the process by which it was taken. He hopes to be able to persuade the committee that he acted with "absolute propriety". He says that Britain was giving money to Rwanda under the budget support programme. Money was being given to the country in tranches, subject to certain conditions. In July there was a family planning summit. David Cameron and Mitchell met President Kagame. They told him about concerns about the allegations of Rwandan involvement in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Mitchell subsequently travelled to the DRC himself. He says that following what he saw he told the Rwandans that he would delay the payment due in July for at least a month. He issued a statement about this at the time. In August Cameron made a statement saying that future payments should only be made if three conditions were met. An assessment was made towards the end of the month showing those conditions had been partially met. On 31 August Mitchell wrote to the prime minister about this. That set out the basis of the decision. Mitchell also spoke to William Hague. Hague accepted that two of the three conditions had been met, and that on that basis it was appropriate to pay some of the money. Mitchell reported this to parliament on 4 September. The decisions were made "entirely properly" through cross-government consultation, he says. Andrew Mitchell quizzed by MPs on aid to Rwanda Andrew Mitchell is about to give evidence to the Commons international development committee about aid to Rwanda. Here's a short reading list about his controversial decision to give the country a £16m grant on his last day in office. • A Guardian report saying Downing Street approved Mitchell's decision to award the grant to Rwanda. • A Daily Mail feature accusing Mitchell of "monumental naivety" in his relations with Kagame.  Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary. Photograph: Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, has been doing a round of interviews this morning to talk about his plans to tackle dementia. Here are the main points. I've taken the quotes from the Press Association and PoliticsHome. • Hunt said that Britain was "shockingly bad" at dealing with dementia and this his plan to train one million "dementia friends" would help. We are shockingly bad as a society in the way that we deal with dementia, I mean it really is a scandal. We're going to have 1m people with dementia by 2020 and this is a condition that really can be dealt with in a way that improves the lives of carers, but also allows people to live at home for longer if they get the right medicine, but we only diagnose less than half the people who have it, so this part of this means that we need to have more diagnosis earlier by GPs, part of it is more research, but another really big part, which is what this campaign is about, is having more understanding go dementia across society. • He said that the idea to train people as "dementia friends" came from Japan. It involves people receiving basic training to help them spot the early signs of dementia and understand how to deal with the condition. • He said he was "neutral" on whether private firms or the NHS should run hospitals. "My job is to be neutral about this," he said. "My job is to do what's best for patients and the point of the new reforms, is actually these are things that are going to be much more decided at a local level by local doctors." • He criticised Nadine Dorries' decision to take part in I'm a Celebrity ... Get Met Out of Here. "A lot of people are very worried about it," he said. "And I think we want MPs where they should be, voting in the House of Commons." Andrew Mitchell is in the spotlight again today. We have not heard much from him in public since he resigned as chief whip, but this morning he will be giving evidence to the Commons international development committee about the controversial decision he made on his final day as international development secretary to give £16m in aid to Rwanda despite the questionable human rights record of its president, Paul Kagame. Mitchell's decision reversed a decision to suspend aid to the country taken earlier in the year and there are suspicions that it was an act of favouritism. Here's an extract from an article that Mike Hale wrote about it in the New Statesman in September. Just 53 days after the cut was announced, it was reversed. Explaining this decision, Mitchell said that following the delay in British aid: ". . . I sought assurances from President Kagame that Rwanda was adhering to the strict partnership principles." President Kagame, a past-master at dealing with Western donors, provided the kind of vacuous assurances he has repeated down the years. Mitchell believed them, announcing as he left for the Chief Whip's office that: "Britain will partially restore its general budget support to Rwanda." The UK remains Rwanda's largest bilateral aid donor. What is so remarkable about the tenacity of British support, is not that it not just that it flies in the face of years of evidence of Rwandan repression at home or Kagame's backing for Congolese rebels. It also ignores the evidence of the danger Rwandan government death squads pose to exiles living in London. I will be covering the hearing in detail. Mitchell's hearing is one of just several items in the diary. Here's the full agenda for the day. 9.30am: Andrew Mitchell, the former international development secretary, gives evidence to the international development secretary about aid to Rwanda. 9.30am: Vince Cable, the business secretary, takes questions in the Commons. |
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