Committees

Nominations open for the Committee on Standards Chair

4 September 2024

MPs have begun the process of electing a Chair of the Committee on Standards in the new Parliament.

The Speaker announced the timetable for the elections on July 30. The period of nominations will run until 4pm on Monday 9 September, with the ballot scheduled for Wednesday 11 September.

The new Chair will be elected from the Conservative party under the allocation of committee chairs to political parties which was agreed by the House on 30 July 2024.  

Since 2010, most committee chairs have been elected by the whole House, by a system of alternative vote and by secret ballot. To be valid, nominations must contain a signed statement made by the candidate declaring their willingness to stand.

It must be accompanied by the signatures of 15 MPs elected to the Commons as members of the same political party as the candidate (or 10 per cent of the MPs elected to the House as members of that party, whichever is the lower). More than 15 signatures can be collected but only the first 15 valid signatures are printed. Members may only nominate one candidate per select committee.

Nominations may be accompanied by the signatures of up to five MPs elected to the House as members of any party other than to which the chair is allocated or of no party. Similarly, only five such signatures are printed.

Candidates must declare any relevant interests with their nomination. Valid nominations received each day are published with the next day's Order Paper and will be listed below.

Nominations

Candidate: Sir Jeremy Wright

Supporters (own party): Dame Caroline Dinenage, Simon Hoare, Dame Karen Bradley, Joy Morrissey, Jack Rankin, Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst, Alicia Kearns, Nigel Huddleston, Mims Davies, Damian Hinds, Andrew Bowie, Kevin Hollinrake

Supporters (other parties or no party): Debbie Abrahams, Mr Alistair Carmichael, Gavin Robinson, Carolyn Harris, Sarah Champion

Relevant interests declared: None

Supporting statement:

We can all agree that the public are entitled to high standards from their MPs, and that MPs are no less entitled to due process and a fair hearing than anyone else. Reconciling those things is what our standards process should be there to do. Both because the Standards Committee’s work is really about the reputation of the House of Commons as an institution, in which we all have an interest, and because we all want to know that we would be treated fairly if the subject of a complaint, it matters to all of us that whoever chairs the Standards Committee has the background, temperament and skillset needed to do a good job.

So why me?

  • I served as Attorney General for 4 years, in 3 Governments (coalition, majority and minority) and with 2 Prime Ministers (David Cameron and Theresa May). In that role I made quasi-judicial decisions with very serious consequences and in circumstances where a non-partisan approach was important. 
  • I was a member of the Committee on Standards in Public Life for 3 years, a Committee with political and non-political members, as the House of Commons Standards Committee has. In my time on the Committee, we were always able to agree unanimous reports.
  • I was a member of the Intelligence and Security Committee in the last Parliament, a cross-party Committee dealing with extremely sensitive matters, appointment to which needs the agreement of Government and Opposition.
  • I have had a wide range of Parliamentary experience – on the front bench (including at Cabinet and Shadow Cabinet level and as a Whip) in Government and Opposition, as a member of a Select Committee and in chairing All-Party Groups, and as a backbencher in both Government and Opposition. I have worked constructively with colleagues in other parties and I have been prepared to be critical of my own.

In the coming years public and press interest in Parliamentary standards will be intense and framed by past transgressions. There will be further failures to meet expected standards, some arising from error, some from negligence or contempt. There will also be unjustified allegations. The Standards Committee must be able to distinguish between them and, as its Chair, I would seek to bring to that process the rigorous, considered, impartial and fair-minded approach which, I believe, those I have engaged with across the House would say I have brought to all I have done in Parliament over the last 19 years.

Candidate: Alberto Costa

Supporters (own party): David Davis, Mr Andrew Mitchell, Sir Bernard Jenkin, Dame Harriett Baldwin, Mr Richard Holden, Harriet Cross, John Lamont, Wendy Morton, Mark Garnier, David Mundell, Neil O’Brien, Dr Ben Spencer

Supporters (other parties or no party): Dame Meg Hillier, Ms Stella Creasy, Mrs Sharon Hodgson, Tonia Antoniazzi

Relevant interests declared: None

Supporting statement:  

Alberto Costa’s work on the Standards and Privileges committees has been unprecedented. He was under the most intense public scrutiny whilst adjudicating on some of the highest profile disciplinary and standards cases that the House of Commons has ever dealt with.

During the last parliament, Alberto served on the Committee alongside the former Committee Chair, Rt Hon Harriet Harman PC KC who says,

“Alberto has unparalleled experience, absolute integrity and an unquestionable ability to work on a cross-party basis”.

The Committee’s former Deputy Chair, Rt Hon Sir Bernard Jenkin MP adds,

“Alberto is devoted to truth and justice when it comes to the application of Standards and the Code of Conduct. I cannot think of anyone better who has the relevant knowledge and experience.”

As an English, Welsh and Scottish solicitor by profession, Alberto has helped ensure that cases are adjudicated impartially, fairly and solely on the evidence submitted. For example, Alberto helped set up the legal framework for the high-profile Privileges inquiry which ensured that the House of Commons was able to undertake this extremely challenging and unique inquiry.

Alberto succeeded in persuading colleagues that the Standards system required modernisation to help regain the public trust and make it fairer for MPs, staff and visitors within the parliamentary community. It was his ideas which helped create a new, fairer Standards system, whereby the Standards Committee is now a first-tier forum to adjudicate on a disciplinary case, allowing for an appeal to the Independent Expert Panel.

Alberto is committed to working impartially, fairly, transparently and with compassion on the Standards Committee.  The best decisions are reached when based solely on the evidence submitted and wholly devoid of party politics. Alberto will work effectively with the government and all parties across the House to continue to further enhance and modernise the Standards system, making it fairer for all of us who are regulated, give confidence to those who are reliant on it and help regain public trust in our parliamentary system.

Please support Alberto to be our new Chair of the Standards Committee. 

Further information  

Image credit: House of Commons