00:00By convention, the ultimate result, the ultimate conclusion is communicated to ministers,
00:08but the underlying process, any caveats, any concerns, any things that are flagged are not,
00:14for privacy reasons. That is understandable. That is the argument that I think Sir Ali is going to
00:19put forward. He followed the rules and was fired by the Prime Minister for doing so.
00:24But the point is, anyone who has been in government knows that if you have concerns,
00:30you ask more probing questions. The Prime Minister completely failed to do that. The Foreign Secretary
00:37completely failed to do that. And now they are blaming the very civil servants that they tasked
00:43with clearing up their mess. It is completely unacceptable.
00:47Well, Keir Starmer said he asked why Sir Ali didn't fully disclose the information about vetting.
00:57And he said Sir Ali's response was, the rules precluded me from doing so. The Prime Minister
01:03then said, well, that's not good enough. And he fired him. So even by the Prime Minister's
01:08admission, he was firing somebody who believed they were acting in accordance with the rules
01:13of their job. That fundamentally undermines the confidence of the whole civil service.
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