UK: Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe's trip to Oman helps him avoid grilling by MPs over Brittan

Bernard Hogan-Howe

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, flew to a five-star hotel in the Middle East for a business trip instead of answering MPs’ questions on the Leon Brittan scandal, it has emerged.

He had been invited to attend a home affairs select committee hearing but instead opted for a taxpayer-funded speaking engagement in Oman.

Sir Bernard, 57, Britain’s most senior police officer, made the 8,000-mile round trip to deliver a 20-minute speech on security before mingling with security firms and delegates at a ballroom buffet at the £160-a-night Intercontinental Hotel in Muscat.

Scotland Yard confirmed it paid for his flights and said he agreed to attend the event before receiving a written invitation from Keith Vaz, the committee chairman, on Oct 13.

A senior former colleague said he was “amazed” at the trip and said it “shows a real judgment issue. It is not an operational duty that has anything to do with the Met”

Tim Loughton, a Conservative MP on the home affairs committee, said: “I would question Bernard Hogan-Howe’s sense of priorities. He should have attended the select committee hearing instead of going to a conference held at a luxury hotel in Oman.”  (more...)

Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe's trip to Oman helps him avoid grilling by MPs over Brittan