Questioning Truss at an appearance before the committee in June when she was still secretary of state, Bryant said in a letter that it was “difficult not to conclude that you deliberately misled the committee” rather than realizing a mistake. Instead, he argued, the prime minister had “attempted to further pull the wool over our eyes” by writing to the committee only giving information about general discussions, which included rights issues, but without saying who had raised them. Questioning Truss before the committee on June 28, Bryant asked Truss whether she had personally raised human rights issues with Gulf leaders in her role. She replied, “Personally, yes.” Pressed for details, Truss continued: “I have raised specific issues when I was in the Gulf on human rights issues … I am not going to go into all the details of the private conversations, which I will get back to you in due course.” In his letter, Bryant said Truss was clear she had raised the issue herself and had done so on visits to the Gulf. But in the follow-up to her letter, he said, Truss mentioned only a meeting with Gulf leaders at Chevening, the government’s retreat in Kent, including then junior foreign secretary James Cleverley, who said “a wide range of issues were discussed, including human rights’. In his letter on Tuesday, Bryant wrote: “You do not cite a single issue where you have ‘personally’ raised human rights in Saudi Arabia or any other GCC state. You say human rights were “discussed”, but not by whom. Therefore, I can only assume that your claim that you had ‘personally’ raised these matters misled the committee and therefore the House.’ Truss also did not report a single instance of raising rights issues while in the Gulf, Bryant added, saying, “I can only assume that was untrue as well.” Noting that Truss’ apparently erroneous comments could have been unintentional, Bryant noted that in such cases the ministerial code dictates that ministers should correct the record as soon as possible and apologise. But, she wrote, she had done nothing in her July letter to the committee and instead apparently sought to expose the issues. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. “In the absence of an explanation or apology for your inaccurate comments to the committee, it is hard not to conclude that you misled the committee because you did not want to own up to the fact that you knew you had never raised them. issues with the Gulf States, whether in the Gulf or at home.” Downing Street has been contacted for comment.
