Responding to reports that Boris Johnson intends to make Chris Grayling chair of Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, Acting Leader of the Liberal Democrats Ed Davey said: “This is yet another blatant power grab by Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings. They are trying to prevent anyone from holding them to account in a meaningful way.
“The Intelligence and Security Committee does crucial work holding the Government and security services to account. It scrutinises evidence deemed too sensitive for the rest of us to see.
“The public needs to have confidence that the Committee is independent of Government. Installing a lackey of the Prime Minister – especially one with as little credibility as Chris Grayling – badly undermines that confidence.
“Principled Conservative MPs should refuse to go along with this latest authoritarian move.