On 22 May, Alistair Lexden returned to his long-running campaign to bring the former chief constable, Mike Veale, to justice.
He asked: “How can it possibly be right to allow Mike Veale to dodge a gross misconduct hearing for almost two years, while tarnished officers of lesser rank have been brought to account?”
He called on the Government “to use their reserve powers under Sections 79 and 91 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 to end the impasse. Is it not time that this matter was finally resolved?”
Conservative and Opposition members all expressed their full support. No one disagreed. But the Lords Home Office Minister stonewalled, saying that the Government’s reserve powers “are very much a last resort, and we do not believe that the current situation in Cleveland requires these powers to be used.”
The Minister was repeatedly criticised. At the end of the exchanges in the Lords, the Labour Spokesman Lord Coaker said: “Lord Lexden has raised time and again the misconduct of Mike Veale. When will the Minister give us the answers that Lord Lexden is demanding? “
To which the Minister replied enigmatically: “I hope very soon.”
