Politics
War of the Words
Plus, did DHSC officers have the powers we’ve been told they did?
Onchan MHK Rob Callister has written to the President of Tynwald informing him he believes that DHSC Minister Lawrie Hooper misled Tynwald.
The issue relates to Mr Hooper’s statement about Mr Callister at the May 16 sitting.
In that sitting, Mr Hooper told Tynwald that the decision to file the skeleton argument relating to the second Dr Rosalind Ranson appeal was taken by DHSC officers using powers properly delegated to officers from the Minister under the Government Departments Act 1987, as Mr Callister, who was then the minister, was absent.
On his constituency Facebook page, Mr Callister said: ‘Under section 4 of the Delegation of Functions document, it states that “In the absence of the Minister, power to exercise any administrative functions which would otherwise fall to be exercised by the Minister but cannot await his return and which have not been delegated to any other member”.
‘However, after looking into the matter further, I confirm that the Delegation of Functions document, which would normally be signed by a new Minister upon their appointment, was only sent to me for signature on November 7 2022.
‘Therefore I believe that neither the interim Chief Executive nor any other DHSC officer from within the Department actually had the prescribed powers on 28th September 2022 in accordance with the Government Departments Act 1987.
The Onchan MHK says his case is strengthened by the already public fact that a document was prepared for CoMin to discuss that week before being withdrawn.
He added that to be described as awol was ‘concerning’, adding ‘especially when I had various meetings in the office on that particular day, along with taking numerous calls from DHSC officers throughout the day’.
Mr Callister concluded his post by saying: ‘I had a number of telephone conversations relating to the filing of the Skeleton Argument with both the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister in the afternoon of September 28 2022 between 15.20 and 15.50, and therefore I feel the Minister’s statement in May’s sitting of Tynwald was not correct..’
He also confirmed the awaits a review of Mr Hooper’s statement from the Chairman of the Tynwald Standards and Members’ Interest Committee and President Laurence Skelly.
Hooper
For his part, Mr Hooper used his appearance on Manx Radio this weekend to deny prior accusations from Mr Callister that his statement was incorrect.
He also went to point out that Tynwald has voted to support a report that found that Mr Callister had not been honest over events which led to his sacking as minister.
Mr Hooper said: ‘Tynwald has already found that Mr Callister acted dishonestly. I think the language in the report was that he did not act consistent with the principle of honesty but in essence they’re saying he was dishonest. He is continuing to repeat some of those accusations even after Tynwald has found that, that’s a matter for him really, it’s not something I particularly want to wade into.’
The Ramsey MHK added that denied he had misled Tynwald and that he felt Mr Callister’s behaviour had ‘a lot of parallels’ to that of ex PM Boris Johnson.
It was the comments made by Mr Hooper in his interview with Phil Gawne that led to Mr Callister’s post.
