JACOB Rees-Mogg has backed the Home Secretary over her speeding conviction, describing the row as a “non-story”.
The former Business Secretary told GB News: “She behaved properly. Clearly, she was speeding. Speeding has gone from being something that it was very rare for people to be caught for, for something that has now become very commonplace with all these courses taking place. The Home Secretary behaved properly.
“Essentially, this is a non-story and it would be extremely unfortunate for the Prime Minister to do anything other than to move on.”
The Home Secretary has insisted she did nothing untoward when quizzed on the matter. But Sir Keir Starmer has called for her resignation, if she breached the ministerial code.
“The Prime Minister is considering whether to launch an investigation. But as a former Secretary of State, I can tell you that the line between private and professional is not that clear because it’s not a nine to five job, you don’t turn up and have a time when you can leave.
“And you find that your private life is completely taken over by your official business. If you have to go to a private meeting that has to fit in whatever time it is, whether it is at dinner time, or at breakfast time with your public responsibilities, and your private office has to know because they have to fit in what you’re doing privately with your public responsibilities. Things have to be cancelled, things get changed.”
He added: “And there’s nothing unusual…in private individuals having private speeding courses. Apparently, the people who provide the courses find this useful so that other participants aren’t distracted by having a well-known figure in the audience.
“And therefore, she wasn’t asking for something that was special treatment or not allowed for anybody else. All she was asking for was whether it was possible to do it in a particular way. As soon as her civil servants said, ‘no, we can’t help you with that’, she stopped asking and paid the fine and took the points.
“What on earth is complicated about that? It seems to me that there is a certain section of society that doesn’t like the Home Secretary’s views on immigration, doesn’t want to get it controlled and doesn’t want to stop the small boats, and therefore will use anything to try and take potshots at her. But on this case, they are the ones who are wrong.”
