Simon Hart: Peerage for ex-MP criticised over tell-all book
Questions have been raised about why a former Welsh secretary was given a peerage despite writing a tell-all book about his time as the Conservative government's chief whip.Simon Hart, ex-MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, was named alongside other former cabinet ministers in former prime minister Rishi Sunak's resignation honours list.His book was described by its publisher as a "revealing" behind closed doors account of Westminster politics, but former senior Conservatives have criticised Hart for allegedly undermining the trust of other politicians by publishing private information.Simon Hart has been approached for comment.
One Tory MP said he wrote to a body responsible for vetting nominations to the House of Lords in an attempt to stop Hart from becoming a peer.
"Ungovernable: The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip" recounts salacious anecdotes of anonymous MPs, including when one was said to have contacted the chief whip for help after finding himself "stuck in a brothel" after running out of money.The BBC understands the book was signed off by the cabinet secretary – the UK's most senior civil servant - as having complied with the "Radcliffe Rules" around handling sensitive government information responsibly.But former defence minister Alec Shellbrooke told the BBC it was "appalling" that Mr Hart had "destroyed the sanctity of the whips office" by publishing "very private information" in a book.He said: "If [MPs] don't feel they can trust the whips the system will break down in Parliament."I mean the pressure some people are under and they do these stupid things under pressure, if they don't feel they can talk to anybody there can be serious consequences… not suicide per se, but, drinking themselves to death," the Wetherby and Easingwold MP said, adding: "That has happened in the past."Shellbrooke said that he had written to the House of Lords Appointment Commission (HOLAC) before the peerage was confirmed to ask that it be blocked on the basis that Simon Hart had breached the Nolan Principles – standards which should be upheld in public life.Writing to HOLAC, he said: "Ultimately, the book has its amusing parts, but so would stories from a GP."If they wrote up stories, the trust would be gone, beyond just that doctor."He has broken a bond of trust and undermined the whole system of what is effectively the only HR department."
'Frankly horrified'
HOLAC told the BBC it did not comment on individuals and the suitability of those being considered for a peerage is a matter for the nominating party.Another senior Tory who stood down at the last election said he agreed that Simon Hart had undermined trust in the whip's office.The former MP said: "The point of the whips office is a place you go to with a pastoral problem."Many MPs will have gone to discuss personal problems and will be appalled that they are now translated into a book.He said he had recently spoken to current MPs who had expressed such concerns, including a colleague who was "frankly horrified"."You'd expect a chief whip to get a peerage but it does seem very, very odd he should get it after writing the book," the source added.A former minister, who is still a Tory MP, told the BBC she was "deeply saddened" by Hart's decision to publish his diaries, saying she too had an "issue" with him getting a peerage.Former Tory immigration minister Kevin Foster said that Sunak's resignation honours list had been a "reward for failure" more broadly – branding it a "list of Sunak's mates".Simon Hart's publisher, Pan Macmillan, declined to comment.Rishi Sunak has also been approached for comment.
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