Former anti-corruption king Boris Johnson, who resigned last week, called for urgent reform of standard lobbying rules, as well as more opportunities for the independent adviser to hold the prime minister accountable.
John Penrose, a Conservative MP and former minister, said it was crucial for democracy to address issues with the UK standards regime affecting ministers, MPs, councilors and civil servants.
In particular, he called for stricter anti-lobbying rules, as recommended in a report by Nigel Boardman on the Greensill scandal and the Committee on Standards in Public Life (CSPL).
Johnson’s 2017 anti-corruption champion, Penrose, stepped down last Monday after objecting to Johnson’s alleged failure to deal with a finding by Sue Gray’s report that he showed a lack of leadership over violating parties. blocking in № 10 and concluded that this seems to be a code violation.
Johnson’s independent adviser on ministerial interests, Lord Hyde, said he felt unable to offer an opinion on whether Johnson had violated the code because he could feel compelled to resign if his advice was not followed. That would put the code in a “mocking” position, he said.
Speaking afterwards, Penrose said he thought the government’s recent changes in the role of adviser, which allowed him to recommend the launch of an investigation, were “much stronger than before and I think in practical, pragmatic British terms, he should give it a chance to work. “
However, he said there were “new problems that have only emerged in the last few days” around the adviser, who felt unable to judge whether the prime minister had broken the rules.
Penrose suggested that the adviser should not resign unless his advice was followed, in the same way that Sir Chris Whitty, England’s chief medical officer, was not expected to resign if politicians disagreed.
But he said: “The adviser should be expected to advise whether a prime minister has violated the ministerial code or not, just as they do for any other government minister. At the moment, the Prime Minister has an exception, which means that there is no public council that Parliament and everyone else can see, which is not fair at all. “
As for broader changes to the lobbying standards regime, Penrose said ministers must sign legally binding declarations that they will not lobby the government for certain periods after leaving office – as mandatory advice given by the Advisory Committee on Lobbying. business destination (Acoba).
“Acoba is not completely legally binding at the moment and should be. So what Boardman proposed was for civil service contracts to make Acoba’s decisions binding, and since ministers are not technical staff, the equivalent is for them to sign a legal act that says, ‘I will be bound by Acoba’s decisions. “It’s a nice, simple way to give Akoba the teeth and nails he needs,” he said.
Second, Penrose called for the publication of a more detailed, transparent and easy-to-search record of meetings between companies or lobbyists and members of the government. He said not only ministers but also political advisers and senior government officials should be subject to such scrutiny.
“These are cheap and easy steps that do not need new legislation and would be a huge boost to transparency and trust in our institutions,” he said.
Calling on the government to respond to the Boardman report released in the middle of last year, as well as to address more of the CSPL’s recommendations, Penrose added: “Addressing these issues is probably more important now than it has been for years. , and not only for our current government, but for our entire democracy.
“Ministers have promised to respond to these reports, so let’s just keep going. It’s an opportunity to do the right thing and “do good by doing good” and it won’t cost the taxpayer a single bean. “
Parliament has been affected by numerous lobbying scandals in recent years, including the Greensill scandal, which involved former Prime Minister David Cameron lobbying former colleagues via text messages on behalf of his employer, a financial company that has since collapsed.
The government was also embroiled in controversy over Owen Patterson, a former Tory cabinet minister who was found to have lobbied government ministers on behalf of two companies. № 10 tried to organize against the removal of Patterson from the Municipality, which had the opposite effect and led to the resignation of Patterson and the loss of his safe place in by-elections.
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