Penny Mordaunt brutally responds to Angela Rayner in Commons over donations claims

Your Honor raises questions about the ministerial code, the arbitrator of which is the Prime Minister, the work of the standards committee in public life, which matters to you, the role of the independent adviser, touches on various reviews that are being carried out and issues for the authorities of the House and as the President has pointed out, these things are not things that it would be appropriate for me to pontificate on, but I am going to try to respond to the general trend of the accusations that the right honorable lady makes today and I must speak with candor because I know that the honorable lady, rightly, honorable lady appreciates that the accusation that she makes is that the people she names are somehow drinking, that is the accusation that she is making here today on the floor of the house that They've been focused not on the last 16 months they've been working hard to save lives, to get a vaccination program going and to do the things that the public needs us to do, but incredibly they've entered politics, they've made sacrifices, they've overcome the obstacles that she will be aware of to enter this place not to serve in public life but to make a companion or more accurately a conservative companion or someone that they vaguely know or that they met in an elevator once or maybe they don't know at all absolute favor that is the accusation that she is doing today and I fear that this is the reason why the Labor line of attack is not gaining ground, although it is, it is not gaining ground among the public because it is not plausible, It is not based on facts but on speculation, innuendo and smears of perceived conflicts.

Of interest are not those that the right honorable lady has invented public concern for scrutiny, what they do care about is responsibility, transparency and standards in public life, what they see is the performance that the right honorable lady has given today, which is designed to smear diesel colleagues and denigrate British companies. I would direct you, Mr. Speaker, to the National Audit Office report which refutes the allegations you have made about public officials and the public at large, but I am sure the right honorable lady already knows that I would suggest I tell you that a Member of Essex has every right to submit an offer of help from the Essex Chamber of Commerce to help in a pandemic.

Deputies do it all the time, it is part of our job, but the honorable lady already knows it too and so do I. I'm afraid so is everyone else, today's pressing issue has more to do with internal politics and union divisions than with the conduct of members of this chamber and the companies who have been working to help the NHS and save lives , the honorable lady has made special accusations today about colleagues and I just want to make one last comment, Mr. Speaker, because if you took every MP that she made an accusation about this afternoon and looked at all the political

donations

they have received since the pandemic.

January 2020 If you added them all up If you doubled them No, Mr. Speaker, if you quadrupled them, you would almost equal what the honorable lady received in the same period of time and you should thank your lucky stars that we don't play the same games as her. she is in a new position she follows the um uh chancellor of the duchy of lancaster who is now dealing with some of the most pressing issues facing this nation the union of the united kingdom devolution the recovery from this crisis, national security, resilience of the community and the British brand around the world, that's what we're focused on.

I hope that after her debut today she is too and I wish her the best.