Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge has accused David Lammy of “doing a runner” after he became engulfed in the outrage spilling out of the mistakenly released prisoner scandal.
Three manhunts for three convicts have been launched over the past month, leading to mounting pressure on the Justice Secretary to take accountability for the errors.
The first of the accidentally freed prisoners, Hadush Kebatu, was an Ethiopian small boat migrant, who was deported after police arrested him in Finsbury Park, north London.
He spent almost 48 hours at large before being taken to a detention centre.
Standing in for his leader Kemi Badenoch on Wednesday, James Cartlidge grilled David Lammy on whether another asylum-seeking offender had been mistakenly released from jail.
The Deputy Prime Minister refused to answer, with Mr Cartlidge repeating the question five times until he announced that The Telegraph had reported on the second mistakenly released prisoner that afternoon.
Ibrahim Khaddour-Cherif became an illegal migrant after overstaying his visa and had been convicted of multiple offences, including sexual offences.
He was later arrested in Finsbury Park after his release from HMP Wandsworth in south London.
James Cartlidge grilled David Lammy in the House of Commons| PA
Now, speaking with GB News presenters Camilla Tominey and Michael Portillo, James Cartlidge admitted that he did not know just how many prisoners had been mistakenly released.
“I asked the Justice Secretary, you think it’s a reasonable thing to ask him,” the Tory MP said.
“They do run the justice system and he didn’t make any attempt to answer whatsoever. And so I was very frustrated by that.”
In the last year, official statistics have revealed that 262 prisoners had been accidentally released.
He added: “What worries me above all, there were 90 that were violent or sexual offenders. Now that is incredibly worrying for the public.
“So, to quote David Lammy to me, he needs to get a grip. Get a grip indeed. Or consider his position.”
Mr Cartlidge refused to say that he believes Mr Lammy broke the ministerial code, which requires all Cabinet ministers to comply with transparency requirements.
The list of rules within the code was refreshed by Sir Keir Starmer’s Government the October following his historic victory at the polls.
James Cartlidge ripped into David Lammy on GB News| GB NEWS
The new collection of rules have incorporated new transparency requirements as well as clear principles governing the acceptance of gifts and hospitality, for example.
The revamped rules came the same time as Labour became embroiled in its freebies scandal, where the likes of Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner were accepting free tickets to concerts and free clothing.
“Look, there’s a big question about the ministerial code,” Mr Cartlidge continued. “As a minister, David Lammy is duty-bound to be transparent with Parliament.”
He added that he found it “extraordinary” that Mr Lammy dodged his questions, adding that he did a point of order at the end of the session on Wednesday in the Commons, requesting the Justice Secretary to return to Parliament later in the day.
“He needed to come back and clarify and he refused to do so. He did a runner and that’s not acceptable,” he fumed.
