8 2GM Saturday November 14 2020 | the times
News
When the architect of Elizabeth Tower,
which houses Big Ben, proclaimed that
“all ornament should consist of the en-
richment of the essential construction
of a building”, it seems unlikely that he
was talking about scaffolding.
However, it appears that MPs have
taken Augustus Pugin rather literally
by spending £10,000 of taxpayers’
money on a drawing of the Palace of
Westminster covered in construction
MPs spend £10,000 on sketch to commemorate Big Ben renovation
George Grylls works. The sketch, Ben by the artist
Luke Adam Hawker, was acquired in
October last year by the Speaker’s
advisory committee on works of art,
according to the Daily Mail.
Members of the committee who
chose the work include David Lammy,
the shadow justice secretary, and Tom
Tugendhat, the senior Conservative
backbencher.
The Elizabeth Tower has been
undergoing renovations since 2017
with work due to end next year. In
February it was revealed that costs have
risen from £29 million to almost £
million after asbestos and toxic lead
were discovered as builders set about
fixing the crumbling masonry.
In its notes, the advisory committee
appeared to suggest that the MPs
wanted to commemorate the repairs.
“The drawing depicts the scaffolded
Elizabeth Tower in 2019 and was made
in situ,” the committee writes.
“The Elizabeth Tower is an iconic
landmark and the drawing records asignificant moment in its history.”
However, John O'Connell, chief
executive of the Tax Payers’ Alliance,
said that the refurbishment would be
remembered for its value for money,
not for its commemorative artworks.
“Expensive art paints a picture of a
parliament that can't keep costs under
control,” he said.
A spokesman for the committee said
that it took its financial responsibilities
“very seriously” and noted that the
total annual budget for acquiring worksof art for the collection has been re-
duced by about a third since 2009-10.
“As the restoration of the Elizabeth
Tower represents the largest and most
complex conservation in the Tower's
history, the piece falls squarely within
the House of Commons Works of Art
Acquisitions Policy — meeting several
criteria, specifically, an item having a
direct link to the heritage and
development of the Parliamentary es-
tate, capturing a significant moment in
its history,” the spokesman said.Priti Patel was facing further claims
yesterday of making unacceptable
demands on civil servants.
Senior officials are understood to
have complained about being forced to
work long hours to deliver the home
secretary’s pledge to reduce illegal
migration across the Channel.
Several have requested transfers to
different jobs in the department after
being placed under “unacceptable pres-
sure” to produce results for ministers.
The claims are understood to have
come to the attention of Downing
Street as Boris Johnson considers a re-
port into the original bullying allega-
tions made against the home secretary.
Fresh claims over Patel’s ‘demands’
The Times understands that the find-
ings of that inquiry are now likely to be
published before Christmas.
Under a plan being developed by the
Cabinet Office, the full report will not
be disclosed. A summary instead will be
released as part of the annual report of
Sir Alex Allen, the prime minister’s
adviser on ministerial standards.
A source suggested that its publica-
tion was being held up by the latest
claims. Matthew Rycroft, the Home
Office permanent secretary, had made
Simon Case, the cabinet secretary,
aware of fresh issues in the department.
This was denied by the department,
however, which said that no formal
complaint had been raised with Mr
Rycroft. It added that he had spoken toMr Case but this was about the original
bullying complaint.
While the latest claims do not relate
specifically to bullying, staff in the bor-
der policy directorate are understood to
have raised concerns at the pressures
being put on them to fulfil Ms Patel’s
pledge to make it “unviable” for
migrants to illegally cross the Channel.
The teams have been asked to pro-
duce multiple detailed options for min-
isters, including proposals to house
migrants on old ships, army barracks
and even British overseas territories.
One source said that there was “no
prioritisation” for the work and huge
pressure to deliver results without the
necessary resources. This had resulted
in several senior officials asking fortransfers out of the team because they
could no longer cope with the demands.
They said that it appeared to show a
similar “pattern of behaviour” to the
original allegations against Ms Patel.
These came to light when a senior
official collapsed after a “heated” meet-
ing with Ms Patel. He fell ill after being
among staff that worked through the
night on a deportation court case in
which a judge banned the expulsion of
25 foreign criminals to Jamaica.
When her behaviour was raised with
her by Sir Philip Rutnam, who was
permanent secretary, she is said to have
rejected any criticism in a row that
eventually led to his resignation.
“What is worrying is that the same
thing appears to be happening again,”the source said. “Intense pressure is
being put on civil servants to deliver but
with no appreciation about the resour-
ces available or the need to prioritise.
“The demands just get passed down
the system. This is something that the
permanent secretary needs to address
with the home secretary and if she re-
fuses to listen like last time then it needs
to go to the cabinet secretary.”
A Home Office representative said
that Ms Patel worked “incredibly close-
ly” with the permanent secretary “to
ensure the department is appropriately
resourced to deliver on its hugely
important agenda”. The official added:
“Both appreciate the hard work and
dedication of the tens of thousands of
civil servants across the organisation.”Oliver Wright Policy Editor
Split take Marianela Nuñez performs Le Corsaire, part of The Royal Ballet Live — Within the Golden Hour. The show, with
music played by the Royal Opera House orchestra, was live-streamed last night and is available to watch until December 10ALASTAIR MUIRMigrant
smugglers
made £2.6m
A criminal gang which smuggled up to
1,000 migrants into the UK in one year
has been broken up, French police said.
The group, known as the Pierrefitte
connection, made up to £2.6 million
loading migrants into trucks.
For the past 12 months police have
watched the gang closely, including
bugging a bar in the Paris suburbs
where members allegedly met to dis-
cuss plans. The investigation came to a
head in a series of raids earlier this
month with seven people arrested, a
French police chief said.
The crime group smuggled migrants
living in Paris or near by out to the high-
way, where they were loaded onto
trucks in the southeast of the capital.
The gang’s method reflects a shift in
tactics, with smugglers starting jour-
neys further from the border in the be-
lief that vehicles are less likely to be
searched, Jean Arvieu said.
Mr Arvieu is deputy chief of the
Central Office for the Suppression of
Irregular Immigration and the Em-
ployment of Untitled Foreigners
(Ocriest), part of French border police.
Ocriest’s work includes targeting
criminals trying to smuggle people into
Britain, whether by lorry or boat.
He said of the gang: “They were
operating at night. During one year of
investigation we could count about 500
to 1,000 passages or attempts to cross
the Channel.”
Those being smuggled had to pay
£2,600 for a place aboard a lorry.
The name of the gang is a reference to
its links to the northern Parisian suburb
Pierrefitte-sur-Seine.
The migrants were mostly men aged
between 20 and 35, Mr Arvieu said.
Seven people have been arrested in
connection with the Pierrefitte con-
nection and three have been remanded
in custody.Met not free
of racism,
chief admits
The Metropolitan police commissioner
has said she feels “very sorry” that trust
among black communities is so low, as
she admitted her force “is not free of
discrimination, racism or bias”.
Dame Cressida Dick issued a state-
ment as the force outlined plans for
40 per cent of new recruits to be from
black, Asian and minority ethnic back-
grounds from 2022.
Her comments came as Sadiq Khan,
the mayor of London, published an
action plan to address concerns over
the use of police powers affecting black
Londoners, including stop and search
and the use of Tasers. He has called for
a review of police road traffic stops in
the capital and has asked the Met to
launch a year-long pilot scheme look-
ing at samples to identify any dispro-
portionality relating to ethnicity.
Figures show black people are almost
four times more likely to be stopped and
searched in the street than white people
in London. They are also six times more
likely to be stopped in their vehicles.
Dame Cressida said: “I recognise
trust in the Met is still too low in some
black communities, as is their trust in
many other institutions. I feel very sor-
ry about that. It is something I have
worked to change and I commit now to
stepping up that work further.
“My top two operational priorities
are reducing violence and increasing
public confidence in the Met, particu-
larly the confidence of black, Asian and
minority ethnic communities.
“Actions are more important than
words and, as I have said before, we can
do more and we will. The Met is not free
of discrimination, racism or bias. I have
always acknowledged that and do now
again. In the Met we have zero toler-
ance of racism. My job is to continue to
try to eliminate any such racism and
discrimination, however it appears.”