Keith Vaz becomes the new chairman of the House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs
Rt. Hon. Keith Vaz MP,the Labour MP for Leicester East has been parachuted into the position of chairman of the House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs by the NuLabour Government whips and Harriet Harman, the Deputy Leader of the Labour party and Leader of the House of Commons, without following the proper Parliamentary procedure. He replaces Rt. Hon. John Denham MP , who is now a Minister again in the new complicated bureaucratic empire which is meant to oversee Education and Science etc.
So much for Gordon Brown's promises of "more accountability a to Parliament", or US style public interrogations by Parliamentary committees of Government candidates for the chairmanship of Committees or quangos or ndpbs etc. It seems that machine politics and lack of transparency or public debate and contempt for Parliament seems set to continue, in Brown's brave new world order.
See the
press release and the membership list
Will Keith Vaz be inhibited from grilling Home Office Ministers and Civil Servants, especially on Immigration related issues, due to his murky past with regard to the Hinduja brothers scandal ? We will be watching his performance as chairman of the Home Affairs Committee with interest.
Incredibly, Parliament will not be holding the Government to account until 8th October - what is the justification for such a long recess over the Summer in the 21st century ?
Comments
Keith Vaz?? That paragon of probity? Good Grief!
In a single move the Select Committee on Home Affairs has been completely emasculated...
Now we see that Brown's plan is to control or neutralise all challenge, all scrutiny, all accountability.
Posted by: Chuck Unsworth | July 29, 2007 8:31 PM