Tory MP implies Priti Patel needed to go to a Bond premiere to learn about spies

Take a second to praise the debating prowess of our Tory MPs.

Faced with even the most difficult questions and forensic scrutiny, they always manage to engage in thoroughly cerebral debate.

This is exactly what happened (not) when a Tory MP claimed it was perfectly fine for Priti Patel to attend a James Bond premier in her capacity as home secretary because, after all, the film's subject matter related to her brief.

Questioned by Labour MP Chris Bryant during a standards committee hearing about the gift she received from the Jamaican tourist board, MP Mark Spencer first said that he didn't know if there was "a large Jamaican population" in her constituency or not.

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He then said: "The nature of the film, one could argue, is connected to executive functions," causing Bryant to burst out laughing.

Patel got to see No Time To Die on 28 September 2021 at the Royal Albert Hall, which was registered via the Home Office.

The hospitality was then made public in February 2022 through transparency data released by the department on a quarterly basis.

By contrast, any change to MPs’ interests must be registered within 28 days.

By Spencer's logic, perhaps foreign secretary Liz Truss can claim all her holidays abroad as gifts as they surely too are "connected to executive functions".

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