LONDON, 24 MAY (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday that he had chosen not to pursue interior minister Suella Braverman for her handling of a speeding ticket last year, citing the ministerial code.
Sunak made his decision after deliberating for four days on how to respond to a Sunday Times article that Braverman had urged officials to assist her in arranging a private driving-awareness course to prevent her speeding infraction from becoming public knowledge.
“My decision is that these matters do not amount to a breach of the Ministerial Code,” Sunak wrote to Braverman refers to the regulations that regulate ministerial activity.
“As you recognize, a better course of action could have been taken to avoid the appearance of impropriety.”
Opposition parties demanded that the prime minister look into whether Braverman violated the ministerial code in her handling of the issue. Ministers are not permitted to use government staff to assist them with their personal issues.
In a letter to Sunak, Braverman stated that she had questioned authorities if taking a speeding course was permissible given her new post as interior minister, which made her a protected person, and that she had a “lack of familiarity with protocol.”
She stated that her chats were to protect her privacy and security, and that she had ceased discussing them with authorities after getting guidance that it was not an issue for civil workers to investigate.
After determining that a speeding course was incompatible with her security, privacy, and political concerns, she ultimately opted to accept a driving penalty. She apologize for causing a distraction.
“In retrospect, or if faced with a similar situation again, I would have taken a different path.” “Given my personal circumstances as a security-protected minister, I wanted to see if bespoke arrangements were possible,” she wrote to Sunak.
it was not the aim nor the result.””I understand how some people interpreted this as me attempting to avoid sanction – that was never the intention or outcome.”