George Brandis set to quizzed over his role in motorcade crash

Australia’s High Commissioner to London George Brandis is set to be quizzed by investigators over his role in a crash involving Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s motorcade.

Australia’s High Commissioner to London George Brandis is set to be quizzed by investigators over his role in a crash involving Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s official motorcade.

Legal firm Ashurst has been hired to investigate the incident during the COP26 Summit in Glasgow that resulted in a collision involving two Metropolitan Police cars.

Yesterday in Senate Estimates Kathryn Campbell, secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), said an initial report into the incident was “quite narrow” in scope and focused “about the drivers and the actual incident”.

She said Ashurst had been hired because the original report “didn’t talk to a number of other parties who were involved in the incident”. It is understood one of those parties will be Mr Brandis.

George Brandis QC is set to be quizzed by investigators over his role in a crash involving Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s official motorcade. (Photo by Tom Dulat/Getty Images)

The Daily Telegraph last month exclusively revealed Mr Brandis had refused to go on the staff bus and insisted on his driver catching up with the official motorcade that is off limits to all but the Prime Minister.

Metropolitan Police drivers took evasive action until they recognised the diplomatic plates and braked, resulting in two police cars colliding.

Mr Brandis and his driver were stopped at the scene and were late to attend an official stakeholder breakfast where Mr Brandis was supposed to have introduced Mr Morrison.

“George was late and was telling his driver to hurry up and catch up with the motorcade,” a diplomatic source told The Daily Telegraph at the time.

“One of the police cars then braked causing the other to crash into it,” the source said. “No one was injured but it was highly embarrassing for the Commissioner.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison holds a breakfast summit at the COP26 Climate summit in Glasgow on November 2, 2021. Picture: Adam Taylor

Ms Campbell confirmed Australia had offered to pay for the damage to the police cars.

“The Deputy Commissioner contacted the Metropolitan Police the day after the incident and offered to compensate them. They declined the offer,” she said.

But she repeatedly refused to answer questions about exactly what happened and what driving duties the driver had been on the night before the incident.

Labor Senator Tim Ayres said: “It’s pretty extraordinary that we’re not in a position to understand some of the basic details.”

A spokesman for DFAT confirmed the driver had since been moved to other duties. “The High Commissioner did not ask for the driver to be reassigned. The Deputy High Commissioner made the decision to reassign the drivers duties pending an investigation,” he said.

“The investigation into these matters remains ongoing. It would not be appropriate for the department to provide further comment at this time.”