Dear Sarah
Thank you for your letter. As you'll know I've refrained rigorously from
making statements about the committee`s proceedings and never attempted to
revive the habit which we had up to 2010 of a committee press officer pushing
us on to local media and Armed Forces media to comment on committee reports
I am deeply shocked that someone has had the vicious
effrontery to accuse Conservative members of the Public Accounts Committee of
supporting the government's wishes that Lord Green should not appear before
select committees. This can only be a
politically motivated attempt to embarrass Conservative members before the
General Election.
I cannot explain how a leak of the committee's
discussions on 11 and 23 February came about but I am happy to report to you
that it was not through me. Indeed I
couldn't even leak them now because I don't know what they were. I didn't realise that we had taken any
decisions on either of those two days. You'll realise that being a little deaf
I don't always hear the full purport of discussions before the sound loop is
switched on for our formal hearings.
I can tell you that I spoke to a reporter from the
Guardian after our meeting on Monday and gave him my own view, which I had
expressed in committee (being able to hear myself) and in a letter to Margaret,
that Green should be called. I also said
that Conservative members of the committee were against the idea.
If this was a little incautious, because they do not
wish their views to be known, then I can only make my humble apologies to them
for any embarrassment caused. But I
would point out that such a report is an individual observation not a leak of
committee proceedings of the type which you and, I assume, the Clerk to the
Treasury Committee are remorselessly hunting down. Be stern and rigorous. The reputation of both committees depends on
your efforts. I can`t emphasise enough
how important it is that that reputation should not be reduced to
ridicule. We need a stern sense of
proportion and a purposeful drive to clean out this Aegean stable.
Yours sincerely
AUSTIN MITCHELL
MP FOR GREAT GRIMSBY
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