- The MPs sleaze watchdog said it's "bonkers" she couldn't probe the Downing Street flat refurbishment.
- Boris Johnson avoided an investigation as the refurbishment was linked to his role as Prime Minister.
- MPs who are ministers do not have to declare gifts received in a ministerial capacity to the Commons.
Kathryn Stone, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, has said it is "bonkers" she was unable to investigate the refurbishment of the Downing Street flat due to a loophole for MPs who are ministers — a loophole that Parliamentarians are considering closing.
Boris Johnson avoided an investigation by Stone's office over undeclared donations regarding the financing of the refurbishment of his flat as it related to his role as a minister, not as an MP.
Under the current rules, gifts and benefits received in a ministerial capacity are declared through governmental transparency releases including the list of ministers' interests and are not required to be published in the House of Commons's register of members' financial interests.
The list of ministers' interests is only published twice a year, whereas the Commons's register is updated every two weeks. Governmental transparency releases on ministers' meetings, gifts, and hospitality are meant to be released quarterly, but no sanctions exist when there are extensive delays to their publication.
Stone told the House of Commons Committee on Standards on Wednesday that she agreed with Lord Jonathan Evans, the former head of MI5, that this double standard for ministers was "bonkers."
"Lord Evans yesterday in a very articulate and very elegant way described this process as 'bonkers.' I couldn't agree more with him about that," she said.
"Members of the public often write to say ministers are also MPs, so why should they be different? Why should they be held to a different test, and why should there be different rules of transparency about what they register, what they don't register, and so on," she continued.
"We need to ensure ministers are subject to the same scrutiny as backbench MPs when it comes to the registration and declaration of gifts, hospitality, and so on," she added.
Lord Evans is the chair of the Committee for Standards in Public Life, which considers standards and probity more broadly across the public sector.
Stone was critical of departmental failures to publish ministers' gifts, meetings, and hospitality, after being unable to apply sanctions to ministers who received free hospitality and did not declare it on the grounds it would appear in their department's transparency registers instead.
"Several months later, it still hasn't appeared. Members of the public see that as not being transparent, not being open, not promoting the Nolan principles, and they want to see a clarity around that," she said.
Failure to properly declare such gifts or benefits in a ministerial capacity is a matter for the prime minister's independent adviser on ministers' standards, Lord Christopher Geidt, who criticised Johnson for his handling of an investigation into the funding of the flat in letters published in early January.
Johnson's redecoration was led by the interior designer Lulu Lytle, who was recently dragged into the partygate scandal following reports she was present in the Cabinet Room for a lockdown-breaching birthday party for Johnson in June 2020, having come downstairs from her work refurbishing the flat.
Stone used the committee session as an opportunity to support Geidt's proposal for his "nebulous position" to change the powers of his office. Geidt has told Johnson he expects to have the role of independent adviser strengthened, with "greater authority, independence and effect" by April 2022.
Stone said she was confident Geidt would agree there should be a "greater consistency" between ministers and backbench MPs.
Stone also told the committee she would welcome proposed changes allowing her to investigate "unreasonable and excessive personal attacks," though she did not wish to become "social media police".
This reporter gave evidence to the committee on Tuesday to recommend greater transparency in Parliamentarians' declarations and the closing of the ministerial loophole.