David Lammy squirmed today as he insisted he stonewalled MPs over prisoner release bungles because he ‘didn’t have all the facts’.
The Justice Secretary floundered as he was grilled for the first time since his extraordinary dodging of questions in the Commons yesterday.
Stressing he had only been in the job ‘two months’, Mr Lammy said he was not told about the latest case of an offender being released in error until the morning before he stood in at PMQs. That is despite suggestions officials were discussing the situation with the police on Tuesday evening.
Speaking on a visit to HMP Gartree in Leicestershire, Mr Lammy also seemed to muddle dates by suggesting new checks on releases had not been introduced before the latest incident.
Asked why he had refused to engage with direct questions in the House, Mr Lammy said: ‘I first found out about this on Wednesday morning. I was in the department, both learning from officials, but also preparing for Prime Minister’s Questions.
‘At the despatch box, I did not have all of the detail. That detail was actually released just later, after I had finished at Prime Minister’s Questions. I took the judgement that it is important when updating the House and the country about serious matters like this, that you have all of the detail.
‘I was not equipped with all of the detail. And the danger is that you end up misleading the House and the general public. So that is the judgement I took. I think it’s the right judgement.’
The comments came after Mr Lammy was dramatically accused of ‘bullsh**’ by the Tories.
Appearing on ITV‘s Good Morning Britain, Tory shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick gave a blunt assessment of Mr Lammy’s excuses for dodging direct challenges.
He dismissed claims that details of the situation were still being uncovered as ‘bullsh**’ – forcing host Kate Garraway to apologise to viewers.
‘Well it’s very early in the morning and your viewers are still having their breakfast but that I’m afraid – if you excuse my language – is total b******t.’
Speaking on a visit to HMP Gartree in Leicestershire, Mr Lammy also seemed to muddle dates by suggesting new checks on releases had not been introduced before the latest incident
Justice Secretary David Lammy is struggling to contain a mounting backlash after stonewalling repeated questions about bungles in the Commons yesterday
Appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Tory shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick gave a blunt assessment of Mr Lammy’s excuses for dodging direct challenges
Algerian national Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, was mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth on October 29. He is seen here on police bodycam footage during his arrest in August
Police were also searching for another inmate, Billy Smith, 35, accidentally released from the same south-west London prison on Monday. However, he handed himself in this morning
Police are trying to track down Algerian national Brahim Kaddour-Cherif, 24, mistakenly released from HMP Wandsworth on October 29.
They were also searching for another inmate, Billy Smith, 35, accidentally released from the same south-west London prison on Monday.
However, he handed himself in this morning.
The Government had already promised the ‘strongest checks ever’, and an independent investigation led by Dame Lynne Owens in the wake of last month’s blunder which saw Epping hotel migrant Hadush Kebatu accidentally released.
Mr Lammy said today: ‘We have found out that the release that has caused concern this week was actually before I introduced those checks just a few weeks ago, following the release of Kebatu and the other prisoner, was a court mistake, not in fact, a prison mistake.
“But the truth is, I’ve been in post two months. The rate of release by error is too high. It has to come down. That’s why I’ve asked Dame Lynne Owens to look at this.”
Mr Lammy is struggling to contain a mounting backlash after stonewalling repeated questions about bungles in the Commons yesterday.
Minutes later it was confirmed that another foreign offender had been let out of Wandsworth jail in error.
There are claims that Mr Lammy was told by advisers that agreeing to a request to come back to the House later to make a statement would be ‘career suicide’.
Mr Lammy was previously understood to have been briefed about the case on Tuesday night, although he now appears to be adamant he was told yesterday morning.
He was filling in at PMQs for Keir Starmer, who is attending the COP30 climate summit in Brazil.
Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones was sent out to face media questions this morning. Mr Lammy cannot be brought to the Commons before Tuesday now due to a recess.
In fresh confusion, Mr Lammy told the Commons yesterday that he was not wearing a poppy because he had bought a new suit for the PMQs occasion that morning.
But aides have since briefed that his shopping expedition was actually on Monday morning.
Asked about Mr Lammy’s suggestion that he had been shopping for a suit before PMQs yesterday, Ms Davies-Jones told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘He wasn’t out on Oxford Street shopping for a new suit.’
‘He was preparing for Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions. He was preparing to stand in for the Prime Minister, the first ever black person to do so,’ she added.
Further pressed on the issue, Ms Davies-Jones said: ‘He cracked a joke because his poppy had fallen off this suit, which he also addressed during the Deputy Prime Minister’s Questions.
‘I don’t think it’s appropriate to get into the weeds of if he was shopping or not in the morning.’
A manhunt has been launched for an Algerian prisoner who was released by mistake from Wandsworth prison (file photo)
Ms Davies-Jones also said a review led by Dame Lynne Owens in the wake of last month’s blunder which saw Epping hotel migrant Hadush Kebatu accidentally released will report back ‘in the next few weeks’.
Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), said there are an average of 22 prison releases in error every month.
He told BBC Breakfast: ‘The leaders of this service have known about this for over 12 months, but only now it’s in the spotlight. Are they doing something to remedy it?
‘The POA have asked for a royal commission, because we realise that the entire criminal justice system at this moment in time is in complete meltdown.
‘It’s not just prisons. It’s probation, it’s the court, it’s the police. And we want a royal commission to discover not just what’s gone wrong, but more importantly put it right.’
