Select Committee
Parliament

Asked by Tory MP Tim Loughton if the Met would have acted differently if the accused was "a n other" rather than a prominent politician, Deputy Commissioner Rodhouse says no, insisting that the Met had a duty to respond to concerns about investigations, no matter who is involved. With that, he concludes his evidence.and Tom Watson takes his place. 

Select Committee
Parliament

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse says he disagrees with his colleague DCI Paul Settle about the decision to interview Lord Brittan. 

He says he believes the police did have the "legal power" to do so and there was "no breach" of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act. (see entry at 14:58)

Select Committee
Parliament

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Rodhouse defends the investigation into rape claims against Lord Brittan, describing it as a "search for truth". He says the case was "close-cut" and it was right for a full and thorough examination of the material to have taken place. The Met, he says, could only finally decide not to press charges by interviewing the peer, saying the decision not to do so initially was "highly unusual".

He says the advice of the CPS was that a jury"could have been persuaded that the incident may have taken place" but they "did raise significant concerns over whether Lord Brittan would have known" that the complainant was not consenting to sex.

BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg asks the PM a question about the steel industry. In response, he says the two leaders discussed "the problem of global oversupply" and adds that China has plans "to reduce that oversupply".

He rejects the premise of her question, arguing that stronger economic trading leads to strong relationships with enable "frank discussions" about other issues, such as human rights.

Mr Cameron pledges that the government "will take action" to help the UK steel industry - at home and abroad.

China's President Xi Jinping says he was "deeply impressed" by the pageantry during his state visit yesterday. He says China and the UK have significant influence and says his visit is designed to take China-UK ties "to a new level". 

Select Committee
Parliament

The Home Affairs Select Committee hearing has broken up while members take part in a Commons vote. When the division bell went, the MPs were questioning two senior Met Police officers, Patricia Gallan and Steve Rodhouse. Labour MP Tom Watson and Director of Public Prosecutions Alison Saunders are scheduled to give evidence later. 

David Cameron says he wants to see more trade between China and Britain. He hails the China deal on Hinkley Power nuclear point station in Somerset as "historic", and says it will provide "reliable, affordable energy" for nearly six million homes, and create jobs.

The PM adds that Sino-British relations go beyond trade, and that the two countries have a shared interest in a "stable and ordered world". He says they discussed how, as members of the UN Security Council, to deepen co-operation "across the board".

David Cameron is holding a press conference with China's President Xi Jinping, following talks at Downing Street. He says Mr Xi's four-day state visit to the UK "marks a key moment" in Sino-British relations, adding that a "strong relationship" is in both countries' interest.

A strong relationship allows for a "serious dialogue" with the two countries able to discuss issues "openly and constructively", the PM adds.

Image source, Reuters

A Labour peer has suggested Transport for London should have clamped the Queen's horse and carriage while it was carrying the Chinese President Xi JinPing to Buckingham Palace yesterday - over a £2m debt for unpaid congestion charge.

Speaking the House of Lords, Lord Berkeley questioned why TfL wasn't getting out and clamping the Rolls Royces of diplomats from around the world who he says owe a total of £87m in congestion charges.

Kamal Ahmed
Business editor

Image source, Reuters

On the day when the largest ever inward investment deal is signed in the UK, the head of the Chinese nuclear consortium charged with delivering new nuclear energy to millions of UK consumers has admitted he understands concerns about security.

And that he wants to use British "partners" to build the three new nuclear plants announced today - which amounts, the government will hope, to a pledge to use UK workers and suppliers.

Zheng Dongshan, senior vice president of the Chinese state nuclear business, CGN, (and therefore, of course, a leading member of the Communist Party) told me that China wants to protect its reputation and would do nothing to put that at risk.

Read more from Kamal.

Select Committee
Parliament

DCI Paul Settle is asked about his dealings with Labour MP Tom Watson, who will give evidence later. He says he had a good relationship with the MP, saying he "kept him abreast" of developments in relation to the Brittan case and other sexual abuse allegations in recognition of the keen interest that the MP took in such matters and his frequent raising of the issue in the Commons. 

But he says that he was very "disappointed" that, following a meeting in February 2014 in which he briefed the MP on developments, Mr Watson should then have intervened directly in the case, through a letter to the Crown Prosecution Service in April 2014, in which he urged the organisation to properly consider the case against the former home secretary.

He describes the MP's action as a "betrayal" and "a low blow". Asked whether Mr Watson's intervention influenced the police's subsequent decision to re-open the investigation, he suggested it was a "direct result of that".