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- EXCLUSIVE: Boris Johnson is overseeing a “scandalous” decline in ethical standards, a former UK advisor on standards has told Insider.
- Johnson has yet to replace his adviser on ministerial interests after he resigned last year over the prime minister’s refusal to sack the Home Secretary Priti Patel.
- No action was taken against the Health Secretary last month after a court ruled he had acted unlawfully in office.
- Sir Alistair Graham told Insider: “Lord Nolan who established the seven Principles in Public Life… will be turning in his grave.”
- Visit the Business section of Insider for more stories.
Boris Johnson is overseeing a “scandalous” decline in ethical standards within his government, a former chair of the Committee on Standards In Public Life has told Insider, as the prime minister fails to replace his personal adviser on ministerial interests.
The former independent adviser on minister’s interests, Sir Alex Allan, resigned last November after the prime minister refused to follow his advice and sack the Home Secretary Priti Patel after an inquiry found she was guilty of bullying staff.
No successor has been announced for Sir Alex, more than three months after his departure, with officials failing to respond to a Freedom of Information request submitted by Insider about what, if any, steps have been taken to replace him.
Patel has since paid a six-figure settlement to another civil servant, Sir Philip Rutnam, who resigned over the issue, The Guardian reported on Thursday.
Commenting on the delay to replacing Sir Alex, Sir Alistair Graham, who chaired the Committee on Standards in Public Life, which advises the government on ethical standards, told Insider: “This government, in recent months, has shown a scandalous neglect of maintaining high standards in public life. Senior public appointments have been made without a process to satisfy the public that they were the best appointees.
"Sir Alex Allan, an outstanding civil servant, felt he had no choice but to resign as the Prime Minister's adviser on standards after finding a cabinet minister had breached the Ministerial Code and his recommendation was rejected. His post appears to have been abolished as no successor has been appointed.
"Lord Nolan who established the seven Principles in Public Life as the cornerstone of maintaining the highest public standards will be turning in his grave."
The failure to replace Sir Alex comes amid a series of allegations made against senior members and advisers to Johnson's government about the awarding of public contracts to companies with links to the Conservative Party.
A court last month found that the Health Secretary Matt Hancock acted unlawfully by failing to publish details of contracts awarded during the coronavirus pandemic.
The length of time since Sir Alex's resignation is the longest of any period between the resignation of one independent adviser on ministerial interests and the announcement or appointment of the next since the post was established.
The first adviser, Sir John Bourn, left office when Tony Blair resigned in June 2007; Gordon Brown announced his successor, Sir Philip Mawer, within a week. Sir Philip Mawer retired from the role at the end of October 2011, and was replaced at the beginning of November 2011 by Sir Alex Allan, though this was not public knowledge until January 2012.
Since Sir Alex's resignation, an update to the register of ministers' interests was due for publication in December 2020. The Ministerial Code says that "a statement covering relevant Ministers' interests will be published twice yearly." That document, which states all of the declared interests of ministers, involves the independent adviser as part of its publication. It has not yet been published.
Furthermore, several new cabinet appointments have been made, including that of Lord Frost, former Brexit negotiator, as a Minister of State in the Cabinet Office from 1st March. Such appointments would typically involve the independent adviser to advise on the handling of ministers' interests and potential conflicts in their new roles. As the introduction to the July 2020 register states, "On appointment to each new office, Ministers must provide their Permanent Secretary with a list, in writing, of all relevant interests known to them, which might be thought to give rise to a conflict.
"Individual declarations, and a note of any action taken in respect of individual interests, are then passed to the Cabinet Office Propriety and Ethics team and the Independent Adviser on Ministers' Interests to confirm they are content with the action taken or to provide further advice as appropriate."
While other cabinet moves have involved members of the House of Commons, who declare their private interests as relevant to their roles as MPs to the House of Commons, Lord Frost has not yet made any declaration of his private interests to the House of Lords.
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Freedom of Information requests made by Insider concerning steps being taken to appoint a new independent adviser have not yet been answered by the Cabinet Office, who failed to state the exemption they were using to explain why the request had not been answered within the statutory 20-day period and was still under consideration.
Campaigners have echoed calls previously made in a 2012 report by the Public Administration Select Committee for the independent adviser to be empowered to open their own investigations and that they should be appointed through transparent open competition, subject to a pre-appointment hearing by a parliamentary select committee.
Susan Hawley, Executive Director of Spotlight on Corruption, told Insider: "The Prime Minister's failure to replace Sir Alex Allan as Independent Adviser is deeply concerning. An open appointment process should be started as soon as possible and any appointment should be subject to Parliamentary approval.
"But his resignation and the lack of attention to keeping the register of ministers' interests up to date shows the need for urgent reform. It is essential that urgent consideration be given to setting up an independent Ethics and Integrity Commission to regulate ethical standards in Government."
Steve Goodrich, Senior Research Manager at Transparency UK, told Insider: "Recent events expose how little clout the independent adviser has when trying to hold those in high-office to account. That there is such ambiguity over Sir Allan's replacement reaffirms the view that this office is not taken seriously enough and lacks the autonomy and power to act as an effective check on serious misconduct.
"As well as a clear and swift timetable for a new appointment, there needs to be a plan for reforming the role. This sorry state of affairs makes a compelling case for a complete overhaul of how ethics are overseen and enforced in government."
Fleur Anderson MP, the opposition Labour party's Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, told Insider: "This government seem to pay little regard to the honour of holding public office - instead of treating it with the utmost respect which the public deserves, Ministers avoid scrutiny and seem focused on removing the checks and measures that are meant to keep them accountable.
"With growing stories of a Tory government chumocracy, you would think they would want to be far more upfront and transparent to put such claims to bed."
Lord Evans, the current chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life told Insider that the position remains a crucial one.
"The Independent Adviser has a long-standing and important role in upholding the Ministerial Code and providing trusted, independent advice to Ministers on politically sensitive standards matters. We are looking at how this role works in practice, and whether it needs any reinforcement, as part of our current review.
"We're at the evidence collecting phase - hearing the views of a wide range of people and the public - and we will make recommendations to the Prime Minister later this year."
Sir Philip Mawer and Sir Alex Allan are due to appear before the Committee on Standards in Public Life on 10th March to discuss the Ministerial Code as part of the Committee's review of standards.
The Cabinet Office declined to comment.