The truth about the claim Boris Johnson would let the bodies pile high rather than order more lockdowns: GLEN OWEN reveals what was REALLY said - and the context - as hunt for Redthroat mole leaking to Labour focuses on PM s private office
Boris Johnson was warned that a senior civil servant at the heart of Downing Street was leaking information
The official, who is still at Number 10, was being watched by Dominic Cummings and his loyal supporters
It is claimed Boris Johnson ignored the warnings on the grounds the official was too good to be moved on
Improving ethical standards in government Briefing paper
30 Apr 2021
Publisher
Description
The role of former prime minister, David Cameron, in lobbying on behalf of failed finance company Greensill Capital has sparked controversy. The episode has shown the need to change some of the rules that regulate relations between business and government, and enforce existing ones far better.
A patchwork of enforcement bodies oversee a range of rules on standards, ethics and access, but the Greensill affair, and subsequent revelations on relations between private sector interests and the government, have exposed serious weaknesses in the existing arrangements.
The report recommends a series of changes to rules and enforcement to restore trust in government and reduce the risk of conflicts of interest undermining public confidence:
How to fix government sleaze
As the latest string of scandals shows, we should not allow Boris Johnson to mark his own homework
Illustration by Ian Morris
The prime minister sets the rules. The prime minister chooses the person to advise on the rules. The prime minister decides whether to ask that person to investigate a breach, and whether to publish the “independent” adviser’s report. He then decides if any consequences should follow.
Even the dopiest algorithm could spot that this is a rickety defence against sleaze. When the PM himself is someone a former party colleague labels a “vacuum of integrity,” your system for ensuring ministers behave in a proper way is far from solid.
Lord Berkeley, Wendover Parish Council and MPs have repeatedly appealed to the Department for Transport (DfT) to review plans for the Chilterns section of
Boris Johnson today defended keeping powers to overrule his new sleaze adviser Lord Geidt despite complaints the PM being in control is comparable to a thief investigating a burglary .
The PM insisted the newly-appointed ministerial standards adviser will do an outstanding job after he was tasked with reviewing the murky funding of the No11 flat refurbishment.
Mr Johnson also stopped short of committing to publish the peer s findings, despite Labour and the chair of the independent Committee on Standards in Public Life warning that the premier should not be the ultimate arbiter of whether there has been wrongoing.
Asked if he would release the report and follow any recommendations, Mr Johnson said: Well, I m sure he ll do an outstanding job. I think what people are focused on overwhelmingly is not that kind of issue, but on what we re doing to take this country through the pandemic.