It is in Boris Johnson’s interest to tighten the rules on lobbying

Editorial: It has been suggested that the prime minister is enjoying his predecessor’s discomfiture – but he cannot afford such luxury

Boris Johnson would be mistaken in revelling in David Cameron’s humiliation too much (Getty Images)

The failure to fully investigate a number of allegations in the past year has been “corrosive”, Lord Evans, chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, warned yesterday. He was particularly concerned that the post of independent adviser to the prime minister on ministerial interests has been vacant since Sir Alex Allan resigned six months ago.

If Boris Johnson is serious about limiting the damage caused by the Greensill scandal, replacing Sir Alex, who quit in protest when the prime minister rejected his finding that Priti Patel had bullied civil servants, should be an urgent priority.

Mr Johnson has shown some awareness of the dangers to him of allowing matters to slide by appointing Nigel Boardman, a lawyer, to investigate David Cameron’s lobbying of the government on behalf of Greensill Capital. But Mr Boardman’s independence has been questioned by the opposition, and the prime minister will need to go further if he is to prevent the contagion of the affair undermining his government.

It is obvious that the rules on lobbying need to be stricter, and Mr Johnson should show that he is ahead of events by saying so. Lord Wilson, the former cabinet secretary, said in a letter to The Times yesterday that ministers should be banned from lobbying on behalf of companies who are paying them.

One of the most surprising revelations of the Greensill story is that Mr Cameron’s secret lobbying was within the rules, because the former prime minister was employed by the company – whereas if he had been contracted as a consultant he would have had to register as a lobbyist. Furthermore, because more than two years had passed before he started work for Greensill, he was not required to notify the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments.

These are obvious weaknesses in the rules that need to be addressed, along with giving whoever replaces Sir Alex the power to carry out investigations without waiting to be asked.

Mr Johnson is hardly likely to do himself much good by acting quickly to tighten up the rules, but he must realise that he could limit some of the damage that he will otherwise suffer. It has been commented facetiously that the prime minister must be enjoying the embarrassment of his predecessor and rival – all the more because Mr Cameron was Mr Johnson’s junior at Eton College. If so, this would be an empty triumph, because the danger to Mr Johnson is that the voting public – not paying much attention to the details of the story – will conclude that the whole Conservative Party is mired in corruption.

It is very much in the prime minister’s own interest that he is seen to be taking the toughest action possible to avoid the kind of conflict of interest into which his predecessor seems so casually to have blundered.