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Here
is the full letter that Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell did not send to
Theresa May:
Dear Theresa,
Thank you for your letter of 21 February.
Let me say first that this is not my problem. Section 1.3 of the Code states that it is "not the role of the
Secretary to the Cabinet or other officials to enforce it or to investigate
Ministers".
My predecessor, Robin Butler, cleared both Jonathan Aitken and Neil Hamilton. They both turned out to be lying. Robin was an upper class toff who could not believe that a member of the establishment would lie to him. I have no intention of repeating that mistake.
Fortunately, I don't have to. It turns out that under the code a Minister's partner can receive a gift, payment or indeed a hefty bribe and the Minister does not have to report it as long as he or she can claim not to have been told about it. If you believe that Mr Mills did not mention his wife that they had been given more than £300,000 then there has been no breach of the code. I think I would have found a gift of that size worth mentioning to my wife.
Of course, you don't have to be Vincent Duggleby to know that it is not normal to buy your house for cash and then mortgage it on five separate occasions. If Mr Mills is a lawyer, why does he need to borrow money? Does he need it for a new wig?
In the event, Ms Jowell decided not to disclose any of this to her Permanent Secretary. She says she thought it entirely normal and legal to pay off a new mortgage in less than a month. Whether that was a good judgement is a matter for Parliament to decide, not mere functionaries like me.
In the meantime, the Serious Fraud Office will investigate the allegations against Mr Mills. He may yet regret that his sister-in-law is no longer the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Yours ever,
Gus
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