Downing Street rejects call for greater power for ministerial ethics watchdog

Boris Johnson believes ultimate responsibility for policing the Ministerial Code should remain with him.
The door to 10 Downing Street in London. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said in a brief statement that she and Boris Johnson had mandated negotiators to continue talks.
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David Hughes1 November 2021

Boris Johnson has rejected a call by a sleaze watchdog to allow greater scrutiny of ministers.

The Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL) proposed giving the independent adviser on ministers’ interests the power to launch investigations into alleged wrongdoing by members of the Government.

But Downing Street said Mr Johnson’s view was that “as the ultimate arbiter” of the Ministerial Code, it should be the Prime Minister’s decision whether or not to order an investigation into one of his frontbench team.

The recommendation to beef up the power of the independent adviser – a post currently held by Lord Geidt – formed part of a sweeping review of the way Westminster deals with sleaze allegations.

CSPL chairman Lord Evans said the review by his committee found “there still needs to be greater independence in the regulation of the Ministerial Code, which lags behind similar arrangements for MPs peers, and civil servants”.

In November 2020 Sir Alex Allan resigned from his role as independent adviser after the prime minister refused to sack Home Secretary Priti Patel, despite a formal investigation finding evidence she had bullied civil servants and breached the ministerial code.

The CSPL report said the role should be given greater independence, with the adviser “able to initiate their own investigations and have the authority to determine breaches of the code”.

Some of the sanctions the Prime Minister may issue include ordering apologies, imposing fines and asking for a minister’s resignation.

The wide-ranging CSPL report also called for changes to the rules on business appointments for ministers and officials after they leave office, reforms to the powers of the Commissioner for Public Appointment and increased transparency around lobbying.

A No 10 spokesman said: “We will carefully consider the work of the committee, alongside the recommendations made by Nigel Boardman and we will set out a full update to Parliament in due course.”

But on the issue of the ethics adviser being able to instigate investigations into potential breaches of the Ministerial Code, the spokesman highlighted a letter previously sent by Mr Johnson to Lord Evans rejecting such a move.

The letter “sets out our position clearly, that as the ultimate arbiter of the code… the Prime Minister believes it rightly remains for the Prime Minister to instruct on investigations”.

In his letter to Lord Evans in April, Mr Johnson said Lord Geidt had been given the power to “advise” on the initiation of investigations, but not actually to launch them.

Mr Johnson said that as Prime Minister, “I cannot and would not wish to abrogate the ultimate responsibility for deciding on an investigation into allegations concerning ministerial misconduct”.

The Prime Minister said if the adviser was given the power to launch their own probes it could lead to “trivial or vexatious complaints” being examined.

The CSPL inquiry, prompted by a series of Westminster scandals including David Cameron’s lobbying activities, was the biggest review of the system for upholding standards for years.

David Cameron privately lobbied ministers in efforts to secure access to an emergency coronavirus loan scheme for Greensill (Victoria Jones/PA)
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Lord Evans, who previously served as the director of MI5, said: “The arrangements to uphold ethical standards in government have come under close scrutiny and significant criticism in recent months. Maintaining high standards requires vigilance and leadership.

“We believe our recommendations point to a necessary programme of reform to restore public confidence in the regulation of ethical standards in government.”

Labour will overhaul this broken system and introduce an independent Integrity and Ethics Commission that will clean up our politics and restore standards and integrity to our public life

Angela Rayner MP

The proposed reforms would also see the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) and Government departments being able to issue a lobbying ban of up to five years in cases where an official had a particularly senior role, or where contacts made or privileged information received will remain relevant after two years,  the period of the current maximum ban.

Labour Party deputy leader Angela Rayner said ministers had ‘disregarded the rules’ (Gareth Fuller/PA)
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Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said: “Boris Johnson and his Conservative colleagues’ actions have repeatedly undermined standards in our public life.

“The system that is supposed to uphold the Ministerial Code, lobbying rules, business appointments, public appointments and transparency is clearly unfit for purpose. Ministers have disregarded the rules and it is about time for a radical overhaul of the system.”

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