Pages

Tuesday, November 16, 2021

‘Jurassic embarrassment’: Tory MPs attack colleague who blocked Paterson report approval – UK politics live

Latest updates: MPs furious with Sir Christopher Chope as move means report will have to be debated in parliament * PM fails to stifle sleaze scandal as ratification of Paterson report blocked The Greek prime minister, KYRIAKOS MITSOTAKIS, is expected to challenge Prime Minister Boris Johnson over the return of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece when the pair meet later today, PA Media reports. In an interview with the Daily Telegraph ahead of the meeting, Mitsotakis said: Our position is very clear. The marbles were stolen in the 19th century, they belong in the Acropolis Museum and we need to discuss this issue in earnest. I am sure that if there was a willingness on the part of the [British] government to move we could find an arrangement with the British Museum in terms of us sending abroad cultural treasures on loan, which have never left the country ... You have to be able to appreciate the beauty of the monument in its entirety. Rules, though, will only take us so far. Good people will behave well. Bad people may find ways round whatever rules there are, and we should aim to frame regulations to make cheating them harder. But ultimately we need all in positions of trust to set an example: as Lord Evans of Weardale [chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life] said, our political system is a common good that we all have a responsibility to preserve and improve. Well ... you could do quite a lot by rules and by legislation, by forcing people to behave in certain ways. But, ideally, you want people who have a strong instinct for public sector ethos and for obeying the rules. Good people make for good governance. Continue reading...


READ THE ORIGINAL POST AT www.theguardian.com