Nick Jessup has written our long read on the Select Committee Chair contests and delves into the runners and riders

The House of Commons will decide today who will become the Chair of the influential Select Committees. With the Prime Minister in possession of a large parliamentary majority, and large parliamentary majorities often synonymous with potentially weakened oversight from the whole House, the role of the Select Committees in scrutinising the work of the Government will undoubtedly prove important.

The committee chairs are meant to reflect the composition of the House which means that following the Conservative victory in the 2019 general election, the party will be entitled to 16 chairs, with Labour given 9 and the SNP 2. With Sir Norman Lamb and Dr Sarah Wollaston no longer serving in the House of Commons, and given the Liberal Democrat’s failure to make significant gains in the 2019 General Election, there will no longer be any Liberal Democrat-controlled committees.

On the Conservative side, we can expect a battle over Foreign Affairs and Defence, as well as a slightly less contentious but equally exciting elections for Health and Social Care and Transport, the latter being the one Committee changing hands from Labour to Tory. As for Labour, control over International Development and Work and Pensions is likely to prove interesting.

Defence

With Julian Lewis MP stepping down from his role as Chair, the election will be a five-way contest with Robert Courts MP, Tobias Ellwood MP, Adam Holloway MP, James Gray MP and Sir Bernard Jenkin MP all putting their names forward.

Robert Courts, a member of the Transport and Justice Committees in the last Parliament is an active participant on a number of defence-related APPGs, and in his bid for the leadership of the committee, has cited his strong track record on armed forces issues, “leading the Parliamentary pressure for a Combat Air Strategy” and calling “for strategies for rotary aircraft and for the new aircraft carriers”. The largest RAF base in the UK, RAF Brize Norton, is based in Courts’ constituency.

MPs who will value ministerial experience in the new committee chair will likely consider supporting Tobias Ellwood, who has served at the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, as well as serving as PPS to Liam Fox during his tenure as Defence Secretary. Ellwood cites his service both as a former regular soldier and as a current reservist, as well as his “extensive” writing on the subject of Britain’s place in the world as being among the criteria that qualify him for the role.

Adam Holloway has talked about his “four decades of first-hand experience of conflict zones” as positioning him as the best candidate for the job. As a soldier, a war reporter and as an MP, Holloway has travelled extensively and is advocating for more informative visits for the Committee. He has served for six years on the Defence Select Committee, and two years on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

The candidacy of James Gray seems to combine some elements of both Robert Courts and Tobias Ellwood, with strong APPG experience, service as a soldier and authorship of a number of books on British defence and foreign policy.

Sir Bernard Jenkin has attached “particular importance” to the mental welfare of armed forces personnel, and believes that the work of the Committee should primarily work to help adapt the UK’s defence strategy to be “ready for what we cannot predict or anticipate” in the fast-changing world.

With a wide open race, the system of balloting will prove very important, with second and third preferences undoubtedly having a significant impact.

Foreign Affairs

Tom Tugendhat MP is seeking re-election as chair, but he faces a contest from Bob Seely MP, and former Chair Crispin Blunt MP.

Tom Tugendhat hopes that his “credentials and experience as an independent voice” will convince his colleagues to continue his chairmanship of the Committee.  Tugendhat’s Chairmanship of the Select Committee has attempted to focus on British foreign policy issues beyond Brexit, and has advocated for the Foreign Office to have more power over crafting the overall foreign policy strategy. In recent days, Tugendhat has been a firm critic of the Government’s decision to involve Huawei in the UK’s 5G network, citing security concerns. This may not have endeared him to the Government benches or the Foreign Office.

Bob Seely’s pitch for the position of Chair involves making some significant changes to the operation of the Committee, with the Committee focusing on scrutiny, and arguing that the current committee does “not spend enough time in the FCO itself” and needs to work “to know the department better.” Seely also wants to ensure that all members of the Committee are “foreign policy expert[s]”, and will be given the opportunity to chair evidence sessions.

During his long time in Parliament, Crispin Blunt has served on the Defence Committee, as well as chairing the Foreign Affairs Committee between 2015 and 2017, and ranks defence and foreign affairs as his primary policy interests. Describing again chairing the Foreign Affairs Committee as “the culmination of [his] Parliamentary career”, Blunt has argued that his previous chairmanship saw the committee’s profile “significantly raised”, a task he has promised to pursue again. With the Government due to begin negotiations on the future relationship with the EU, Conservative MPs in particular might be keen to have a proud Brexiteer at the helm of this influential committee. 

Health and Social Care

Jeremy Hunt MP, former Health Secretary, has set out his stall to be the next leader of the Health and Social Care Committee. He faces a challenge from Anne Marie Morris MP.

Jeremy Hunt goes into this contest with the accolade of being the longest serving Health Secretary, giving him a level of experience in healthcare few in Parliament could match. That being said, Hunt’s tenure as Health Secretary did not win him many friends on the Opposition benches and he could face accusations that he would effectively be marking his own homework. Hunt has laid out his four priorities for the Committee to address: mental health, social care, workforce and patient safety. This Parliament, Hunt says, should “be a decisive one for tackling the big issues facing the NHS.”

Anne Marie Morris is much more of an unknown than Hunt, but has recent experience on the Health and Social Care committee, being a member since July 2019. Morris has 15 years’ experience in the health and care sector, and has won endorsement from Sir Bruce Keogh, the former medical director of NHS England, Professor Richard Parish, Chair of the of the National Centre for Rural Health and Care and a member of Public Health England and Ron Akehurst, Emeritus Professor Health Economics England, NICE committee member. However, it is the support of her fellow MPs that she needs to attract. Morris has stated her ambition to see more involvement from APPGs and opposition parties in the work of the Committee. This kind of transparent and collegiate approach could convince her colleagues to back her, especially opposition MPs wary about Jeremy Hunt. That being said, she may face an uphill battle to convince enough of her fellow MPs that she is as qualified as Hunt to lead such an important committee.  

Transport

Taking the Transport Committee from Labour for the first time since 1997 is seen by many as a demonstration of the strong commitment the Conservatives are making to make drastic improvements to Britain’s transport infrastructure. Current committee member Huw Merriman MP has put himself forward, facing off against former transport minister Robert Goodwill MP, Karl McCartney MP and Martin Vickers MP.

Huw Merriman has served on the Transport Select Committee since 2015 and proudly touts that he has been endorsed by both the previous chair of the Committee, Lilian Greenwood MP, and all his fellow committee members from the last Parliament. Merriman has said that he does not believe the “transport sector delivers value in the UK”, with “a lack of competition, accountability and responsibility” causing constituents to suffer a poor service. This seems broadly in line with the agenda that Grant Shapps has put forward, which has pushed greater accountability and reliability as being at the forefront of the plan, particularly with regard to the railways. Merriman has also pointed to his legislative credentials, noting that he proposed legislation which would force transport operators to provide automatic financial compensation for passengers delayed on the railways, without the need to apply or be aware that they are entitled to it.

Robert Goodwill brings both ministerial as well as Select Committee experience to his application to be chair. Goodwill served as a Minister in the Department of Transport from 2013 to 2016 and  believes that his extensive experience of Select Committee membership, and being on the other side of the table giving evidence as a minister will make him a good fit as Chair. A clear promise to scrutinise the decisions of ministers closely and stop them from getting “an easy ride if they fail to answer the questions”, a role Goodwill deems being “the poacher turned gamekeeper”, may help Goodwill to garner support from MPs determined to carefully scrutinise the Government’s ambitious transport agenda.

Karl McCartney is likely optimistic that his transport industry experience will make him a strong contender – McCartney previously worked for Transport for London and the Strategic Rail Authority, as well as being a Management Consultant in the sector. McCartney served on the Transport Select Committee between 2012 and 2017 and considers himself “well versed” in key transport issues like HS2, Heathrow Expansion, international hub airport issues, and franchise and commuter rail services. McCartney also describes himself as a longstanding critic of all-lane running motorways, a factor that may have helped him pick up some cross-party support for his nomination, such as Sarah Champion, the MP for Rotherham. McCartney describes himself as “on the side of commuters”, a factor that could align him nicely with the Conservative Party’s renewed drive towards “a passenger focused railway”.

Martin Vickers has served on a number of transport-related APPGs, including as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Rail Group, Vice Chair of the APPG on Rail in the North, Vice Chair of the APPG on the East Coast Main Line, Treasurer of the APPG on Heritage Rail, and Vice Chair of the APPG on Transport Across the North. Vickers regularly cites his desire to work with MPs across the House of Commons to tackle rail issues, an outreach approach that may well stand him in good stead in this election. He has undoubtedly had conversations with his fellow APPG members, whose interest in transport issues make them highly likely to vote in this particular Chair’s election.

Work and Pensions

Alongside International Development, Work and Pensions is one of the few contested Labour committees. With Debbie Abrahams MP, Chris Bryant MP, Karen Buck MP and Stephen Timms MP all standing, second preference votes will likely have a big role to play.

Debbie Abrahams wants to ensure that the work done by the Work and Pensions Committee holds “the Government to account in a constructive and meaningful way”. Having previously served on the Committee and having held the brief of Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary on the Labour frontbench, Abrahams believes that her experience in Parliament, alongside her experience as a Director of Public Health research and her work as Chair of an NHS Trust, make her a good fit for the role.

Chris Bryant is keen to ensure that the Committee operates “by consensus”, and that ensuring “wider public understanding of and participation in the work of the committee” is essential for the Committee moving forward.

For Karen Buck, regular service on the Work and Pensions committee throughout her years in Parliament is key to her qualifications to serve as Chair. Buck has also served on a plethora of other committees, and likely has a strong understanding of both the nature of committee operations, but also what successful committee scrutiny looks like. This breadth of experience makes her a viable candidate for the role.

Stephen Timms has unparalleled experience among his rivals in terms of the Work and Pensions brief, having held the post of Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions for nearly five years under the leadership of Ed Miliband. He has also been the Parliamentary Labour Party’s Work and Pensions Policy Committee Chair for over five years. Timms also brings experience as a leading member of a number of relevant APPGs, including as an officer for the APPG on Foodbanks and Vice Chair of the APPG on Ending Homelessness.

International Development

International Development will be a four-way contest to replace outgoing chair Stephen Twigg with Sarah Champion MP, Nia Griffith MP, Kate Osamor and Yasmin Qureshi MP all putting themselves forward.

Sarah Champion says she has long been a passionate advocate for human rights, ending violence against women, preventing disease and ending poverty, arguing that her work as an MP closely “aligns with the overarching aims of DfID; to build a safer, healthier and more prosperous world for people in developing countries and the UK.” Never afraid to challenge conventional wisdom, Champion says she has “question[ed] how our money is being invested” and wants to be in a position to defend continuing to commit 0.7% of the UK’s budget to foreign aid.

Nia Griffith has described her desire to work in a cross-party fashion and would focus the Committee’s work on continuing to “make the case for the UK’s strong and compassionate role in the world.” As Shadow Defence Secretary, Griffith says she has used her role to be “outspoken on the need for Britain to use its considerable influence across development, defence and diplomacy to create a fairer and more secure world”, a view would look to continue to promote as Chair of the Committee. 

Kate Osamor hopes that her position as Shadow Secretary of State for International Development from 2016 to 2018 will stand her in good stead to fill the position as Chair. Osamor claims that “internationalism is in [her] blood”, and that having spent much of her career working in the NHS and on social justice issues like homelessness, she has good relationships with aid agencies.

Yasmin Qureshi believes that in her parliamentary career thus far, she has provided effective scrutiny of government departments and legislation. As Chair, Qureshi promises to “ensure that DfID continues to lead internationally and engages directly with the vital issues of climate change and gender inequality.”

International Trade

Given the significance of post-Brexit trade negotiations, the International Trade Committee may well find itself having a pivotal role under the leadership of an SNP MP. Hannah Bardell MP and Angus MacNeil MP are competing for control of the Committee.

Hannah Bardell has served as the SNP spokesperson for foreign affairs and international development and in her pitch to lead the International Trade Committee, she has placed making the inner workings of the Committee “more accessible and representative”, a feat she would achieve by “taking the Committee around the UK to hear from businesses, industry and communities in as many constituencies as possible.” Bardell says she wants to see the Committee “looking at different demographics” and exploring what can be done to make sure that the UK Government and its agencies are supporting “SMEs and minority groups to trade internationally.” Bardell has successfully managed to pick up endorsements from the Conservative, Labour and Green parties.

Angus MacNeil wants to get International Trade “right for all parts of the United Kingdom”. He has served as an SNP Spokesperson on the trade team and was Chair of the International Trade Committee from July 2017 until the dissolution of Parliament in 2019. Hoping to foster non-partisan cooperation across the whole House, MacNeil says that he wants to “receive input from those not on the committee”, as he views the work of international trade as not being a partisan issue but rather an issue about helping industry to thrive.

With the new Parliament and Brexit no longer causing political deadlock, Select Committees will be important in shaping policy and challenging the operation of government over the next few years. Newington can help you navigate the complex web, with Select Committee training sessions, briefings, and general public affairs support. Get in touch today to find how we can help, and check back soon for our profiles of the successful candidates!