David Lammy provides cause for refusing PMQs jail query after explosive row

David Lammy has admitted he was not ‘equipped with all of the detail’ on the mistaken release of a prisoner when he refused to answer questions seemingly referring to it at PMQs

David Lammy has admitted he was not “equipped with all of the detail” on the mistaken release of a prisoner when he dodged questions at Prime Minister’s Questions.

The Deputy PM – who stood in for Keir Starmer yesterday – defended not saying more to MPs as he said he did not want to risk “the danger” of misleading the House of Commons and the public when not having all the information available.

On Wednesday, Mr Lammy, who is also the Justice Secretary, responded with fury when Tory James Cartlidge repeatedly asked him whether there had been any further mistaken releases of asylum seekers after Epping hotel migrant Hadush Kebatu was freed.

Mr Lammy did not directly answer Mr Cartlidge’s questions and instead savaged the Tory record on prisons. But after PMQs, it emerged that another prisoner – registered sex offender Brahim Kaddour-Cherif – had been wrongly released from HMP Wandsworth, raising questions about what Mr Lammy did or did not know.

READ MORE: Disturbing truth behind three prisoners freed by errors and what happens now

View Image

However, Kaddour-Cherif was not an asylum seeker, which is what Mr Cartlidge had been asking about. The Ministry of Justice last night said facts were still emerging about the case when Mr Lammy went to PMQs, including about the offender’s immigration status.

Asked about the PMQs exchange, Mr Lammy said today: “I first found out about this on Wednesday morning. I was in the department, both learning from officials, but also preparing for Prime Minister’s Questions.

“At the despatch box, I did not have all of the detail. That detail was actually released just later, after I had finished at Prime Minister’s Questions.

“I took the judgement that it is important when updating the House and the country about serious matters like this, that you have all of the detail.

“I was not equipped with all of the detail. And the danger is that you end up misleading the House and the general public. So that is the judgement I took. I think it’s the right judgement.”

Hours after Kaddour-Cherif’s wrongful release emerged, the release in error of William – known as Billy – Smith was also reported. The fraudster had been incorrectly released after his sentence was mixed up with someone else with the same surname as him. Smith’s error had been in the courts, not the prison service.

Mr Lammy, who became Justice Secretary after a reshuffle in September, admitted Labour has a “mountain to climb” in tackling the prisons crisis. He said the release of Kaddour-Cherif happened before he had brought in

“The truth is I’ve been in post for two months. The rate of release by error is too high. It has to come down,” he said.

“This is a paper-based system that obviously involves human error. We had 800 errors under the last government. This has now gone on for a generation. Our prison system is in crisis so we have to bear down on this but we have a mountain to climb.”