Give up power to rule on sleaze probes of ministers, watchdog tells Boris Johnson

Call from standards chief follows failure to probe complaints against Robert Jenrick and Rishi Sunak – and to sack Priti Patel

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Boris Johnson should lose the power to decide whether his ministers are investigated for sleaze, his own watchdog says, as inquiries into the Greensill lobbying scandal begin.

The recommendation – which follows the failure to probe complaints against Robert Jenrick and Rishi Sunak – is made in a letter from the head of the committee on standards in public life.

Lord Evans he also urged the prime minister to give up the right to decide whether a colleague has breached the ministerial code and hand that responsibility to his independent adviser.

That post has been vacant since Alex Allen quit in protest at the refusal to sack Priti Patel – after she was judged to have bullied her staff – but is expected to be filled within days.

The recommendation for a more powerful adviser was due to be made in the autumn, but has been brought forward to tie in with that new appointment.

“In appointing a new independent adviser, we recommend that they should be given authority to initiate investigations where, in their judgment, this is necessary,” Lord Evans says, in a letter.

“The adviser should be able to publish a summary of their findings, stating whether or not the adviser believed the ministerial code had been breached, and the adviser’s view on the severity of the breach.”

In the Patel case, Sir Alex concluded her behaviour was in breach of the ministerial code, but Mr Johnson simply overruled him and kept his home secretary in post.

Although significant evidence was gathered, only a short statement about the findings was ever released – and the prime minister was under no obligation to publish anything at all.

Meanwhile, Mr Jenrick, the local government secretary, escaped a probe despite unlawfully approving a planning application in way that handed tens of millions of pounds to a Tory donor.

And Labour has called for the chancellor, Mr Sunak, to be investigated for a possible breach after he told David Cameron – in a private text – that he had “pushed” civil servants to help Greensill join a Covid loan scheme.

In his letter, Lord Evans says it should remain up to the prime minister to decide what, if any, sanctions to impose on anyone found guilty of breaching the code.

The current expectation that any breach should trigger a resignation is “disproportionate” and should be replaced with “a proportionate range of sanctions”.

“Resignation should be retained as an available sanction where a serious breach has occurred,” the standards chief recommends.

He also calls for the new adviser on ministerial interests to have a “small secretariat”, independent of the Cabinet Office, instead of relying on its civil servants for investigations.

Both the Commons Treasury and public administration committees have published terms of reference for their inquiries into Greensill, with the first hearings to be held soon.