Inside Politics: Government could ‘tweak’ some lobbying rules

Ministers say minor changes to the system might be needed, amid a fresh wave of ‘sleaze’ stories, writes Adam Forrest

(PA)

The football world is in uproar over plans by the continent’s top clubs – including England’s big six – to start a rogue European Super League and establish a private network to make more money. The political world is uproarious too. Top civil servants and political figures appear to have gone rogue and established a private network to make more money. A new wave of lobbying stories suggests the “sleaze” scandal has some way to run. Will anything change? Boris Johnson’s team is hoping a few “tweaks” to the system will allow everything to get back to normal.

Inside the bubble

Whitehall editor Kate Devlin on what to look out for today:

Boris Johnson will come under pressure to say more, and possible even to intervene, in the extraordinary plan by England’s top clubs to form a breakaway European Super League. Elsewhere, Labour figures will push the 21 questions they claim that chancellor Rishi Sunak still has to answer over the Greensill lobbying scandal.

Daily briefing

BREEZY OVER SLEAZE: Boris Johnson is set to appoint a new adviser on ministerial interests on Monday, in a bid to counter the deluge of “sleaze” stories. But the PM should give up the right to decide when possible breaches of the ministerial code merit investigation, according to the chair of the standards committee Lord Evans (he argued probes should be truly independent). It follows cabinet minister George Eustice’s claim that a few “tweaks” could be made to lobbying rules in the aftermath of the David Cameron scandal. But Eustice also claimed the system in place was “actually a pretty good one”. Labour’s Rachel Reeves fumed: “Tory sleaze is back and it is bigger than ever … The government’s approach appears to be to shrug their shoulders and say ‘scandal? What scandal?’.” The Independent, meanwhile, has revealed that Daniel Green, who gave £135,000 to the Tories before the 2017 election, was made a crown representative while Cameron was PM. The same position allowed Lex Greensill access to government departments.

X MARKS THE PLOTS: How far might the lobbying scandal have left to run? Some 250 former MPs have so-called “category X” passes allowing them to roam the parliamentary estate, according to The Times this morning. At least 10 of those former MPs now work for companies doing lobbying work. Over the weekend it emerged that Boris Johnson’s top advisor Eddie Lister owns shares in a company winning £1m in government and NHS contracts since he joined No 10. Labour’s Rachel Reeves also pointed to the fact Tory peer Lord Maude had an unpaid role advising Johnson when running a consultancy company (Francis Maude Associates). How is Labour getting all this stuff? Well, civil servant “spies” are feeding Keir Starmer’s team information to try to “destabilise the government”, according to The Mail. The leading Tory backbencher Sir Bernard Jenkin warned Johnson he could destablise trust among ex-Labour voters in red wall seats unless he tackles the sleaze crisis.

PLEASE DON’T GO! Should Boris Johnson be going to India later this month? Should the country’s travel status change? Health chiefs are reviewing India’s status amid soaring infections and the new variant there. Environment secretary George Eustice said there is “no evidence” yet that the Indian variant is more transmissible. Eustice also revealed that the PM’s upcoming visit to India would still go ahead. Labour’s Steve Reed said he was amazed “I can’t see why the prime minister can’t conduct his business with the Indian government by Zoom.” Is the UK beginning to see the impact of the pub re-openings? Daily Covid cases are creeping up again. It emerged on Sunday that a further 1,882 people tested positive (an 8.7 per cent rise on last Sunday). Hospitality bosses appear to be getting nervous. In a letter to the PM, the big chains urged him commit to the May 17 date for reopening pubs indoors.

GAME’S GONE: Boris Johnson is not a football fan. But the big move by England’s big six has obviously spooked No 10. The PM condemned “very damaging” plans for a European Super League – calling on Man United, Liverpool and others to halt their move until they “answer to their fans and the wider footballing community”. Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has reportedly asked his officials to come up with a list of “very robust options” for the government to consider. According to Politico, one of those options is the German model, which sees 50+1 per cent fan ownership rule giving supporters majority voting rights. Elsewhere today, Priti Patel is to warn Facebook that its plans to bring in encryption to its messaging services could put work to combat child abuse at risk. “We cannot allow a situation where law enforcement’s ability to tackle abhorrent criminal acts and protect victims is severely hampered,” the home secretary will say. “This is not acceptable.”

TINKERING AND TAILORING: The government wants to adjust spy rules so all foreign agents working in the UK face register their presence – or face prosecution and deportation. Boris Johnson’s bill, designed to counter hostile states like Russian and China, will also update the “archaic” Official Secrets Act so it can be used against cyberhackers and other spies working abroad. It comes as foreign secretary Dominic Raab said the UK stood in “full support” of the Czech government after police there said they were hunting for two men whose passports matched the Salisbury poisoning suspects. Russian ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin revealed he had not met Raab in over a year – but is ready to chat, any time. “If Dominic Raab is really seeing how Russia interferes or demolishes democracy, please, I am ready to discuss it with him,” he told Marr. Kelin also shrugged off the military build-up along the border with Ukraine as “normal military preparedness exercise.”

EYES ON THE PRIZE: We’re into the final two weeks of full campaigning in the Scottish parliamentary election. Labour leader Anas Sarwar has accused SNP boss Nicola Sturgeon of taking her “eye off the ball” on a whole series of important issues during her time as first minister. “She has taken her eye off the ball on drug deaths, she has taken her eye off the ball on the NHS, she has taken her eye off the ball in terms of suicide rates.” In a BBC interview, Sturgeon admitted the way older people were discharged from hospital to care homes early in the pandemic was “a mistake”. Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross bashed Sturgeon’s independence obsession – accusing her of wanting to bring “scenes from Catalonia” to Scotland by holding a referendum without the UK government’s consent. Alex Salmond continues to provide some dramatic headlines about independence. The Alba chieftain claimed Scotland must have its very own currency if it breaks from the UK.

On the record

“He does not need to pretend to be a saint – but his ‘red wall’ voters … will start to dismiss him unless he can show he is more open, more transparent and very different from the out-of-touch elite.”

Sir Bernard Jenkin has a warning for ‘man of the people’ Boris Johnson.

From the Twitterati

“Boris Johnson is responsible for enforcement of the ministerial code. Once you grasp this, it becomes clear why government officials … are able to grift away with no consequences.”

Katy Jayne on PM’s power over the code...

“We can’t trust Boris Johnson to be the person deciding whether or not ministers have broken the rules. We need an independent body to enforce the ministerial code.”

…and Lib Dem leader Ed Davey agrees.

Essential reading

Jess Phillips, The Independent :A cheeky text to Rishi or Matt is how to do business in the UK

Kim Sengupta, The Independent: How loyalist anger turned to violence in Northern Ireland

Nesrine Malik, The Guardian: Compulsory worship of national symbols is a sure sign of decline

David A. Graham, The Atlantic: Whatever happened to that guy Donald Trump?

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