![]() The only jib directed at Rishi Sunak was a reference to a cabinet colleague looking like a “chiselled whippet”. He said that it didn’t work for him, but he concluded that “we are still in the foothills of what these drugs can do” and that one day they will be “transformative”. Instead, he devoted the article to a light-hearted account of trying a weight loss drug. But he was not talking about his troubled relationship with the truth, his political opportunism or his rackety private life. Johnson has used his first column in the Daily Mail to confess to “40 years of moral failure”. ![]() Johnson has told allies not to vote against the privileges committee’s report on Partygate on Monday when MPs will decide whether to give it their formal approval. It would be hard to show that the expectation of personal gain, rather than the expectation of favourable coverage, was the main explanation for Johnson’s indulgence towards Dacre and his editors.īoris Johnson committed a “clear breach” of rules on former ministers taking up new jobs by telling an appointments body he was becoming a Daily Mail columnist only half an hour before the public announcement, the watchdog has said. However Conservative politicians, and some Labour ones, have always tried to keep the Mail on side. His new job could be seen as payback for this, and Acoba says one reason for its rules is to stop ministers being “influenced by the hope or expectation of future employment with a particular firm or organisation”. But the Daily Mail has hired Johnson as a celebrity politician and journalist, and not for his commercial insight, and so Johnson might argue there is no conflict of interest anyway.Īs PM, Johnson did go to remarkable lengths to curry favour with the Daily Mail, even trying to get its editor-in-chief, Paul Dacre, installed as chair of Ofcom. The Acoba rules are supposed primarily to stop companies being able to benefit commercially from government insider knowledge. This is why, as a watchdog, it is considered toothless.Īcoba is chaired by the former Tory cabinet minister Eric Pickles. It cannot block former ministers from starting new jobs, and there are no sanctions it can impose on them either. We have written to Mr Johnson for an explanation and will publish correspondence in due course, in line with our policy of transparency.īut Johnson will not face any penalty for not consulting Acoba earlier. ![]() The ministerial code states that ministers must ensure that no new appointments are announced, or taken up, before the committee has been able to provide its advice.Īn application received 30 minutes before an appointment is announced is a clear breach. ![]() He only got in touch 30 minutes before his appointment was announced, Acoba has revealed. They are also meant to follow Acoba’s advice about what is and is not appropriate.īut Johnson did not consult Acoba before finalising his new job with the Daily Mail. The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), the body that is supposed to rule on what jobs former ministers and officials can take when they leave office to avoid any conflict of interest, has criticised Boris Johnson for failing to comply with its rules.įor two years after leaving office, former ministers are meant to seek advice from Acoba before starting a new job. ![]() 15.26 BST Johnson has committed 'clear breach' of Whitehall business appointment rules, says Acoba ![]()
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