Environment Secretary George Eustice Speaks to T&G on Owen Paterson, cop26 and More

Environment secretary George Eustice has praised Prime Minister Boris Johnson's loyalty amid the Owen Paterson scandal.

Speaking to Tom Newton Dunn and Caroline Wheeler on Times Radio's T&G on Sunday, he said:

He doesn't believe in throwing people under a bus for what you might judge to be, sort of, minor errors of judgement. And you know, in that sense yes, he's very different to someone like Tony Blair, who I think threw Peter Mandelson under the bus three times, for not much reason. And so I think he's very loyal and doesn't believe in being bounced into doing the wrong thing and treating people badly for the wrong reasons.

Mr Eustice didn't rule out a change in the rules surrounding MPs' interests and second jobs:

It may be that from this the rules could be looked at but obviously, at the moment, the opposition parties said they're not they're not willing to entertain a discussion in this area. So for now, I think we have to accept that things won't change, that we're stuck with the system that we have. But you know, in future obviously, we could have a better process with an appeal mechanism, perhaps...with a bit more clarity about where the dividing line is between having an interest that you declare and which is normal and accepted and actually sometimes beneficial, to having a role as as a paid advocate which is not, which crosses the line.

On whether Owen Paterson could now be offered a seat in the House of Lords, he said:

He's been very clear that he wants to continue in public service but not in politics. He couldn't have been clearer about that. He's leaving the cruel world of politics, as he put it. I think he wants to spend time with his family. I think we all respect that and therefore, I think it's highly unlikely that he'd return to the Lords.

TND: Highly unlikely or should he not be allowed to?

GE: Well, look, I don't make these decisions, but I suspect it is highly unlikely that that would happen.

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