Boris Johnson missed chance to improve ministerial standards, watchdog says

The UK government's changes to the ministerial code were a "missed moment" for standards, the chief of an ethics advisory body has told the BBC.

Last week the government revised the code, which sets out conduct guidelines for conduct in office.

But Lord Evans said he was "disappointed" it had not made all the reforms proposed by his committee.

Opposition parties have accused Prime Minister Boris Johnson of "watering down" standards in public life.

Under the updated code, ministers who breach standards rules in a "minor" way will not be expected to resign or face the sack.

Previously there had been an unwritten convention that ministers should quit if they had breached the code in any way.

In other changes, the prime minister's ethics adviser can now launch their own investigations into alleged breaches of the code, but only after "consultation" with the prime minister, who has a veto.

The changes follow a review of the ministerial code by the Committee on Standards in Public Life, an advisory body which made a series of recommendations for reforms in a report last year.

Lord Evans, who is chairman of the committee, said the government had only implemented some of them.

"We're slightly disappointed that they haven't gone for the complete package because it was meant to work together," he told the BBC.

"It's a missed moment for the ministerial code, a missed moment for the investigations of breaches, where I think the independence of the adviser is really important."

He said Lord Geidt, the current independent adviser on ministerial interests, "should be able to investigate what he wants" and that "you wouldn't be putting anyone in that role unless they were very independent-minded".

But Lord Evans disagreed with accusations from opposition parties that the ministerial code had been "watered down".

Under the new rules, possible sanctions for breaching the code could include a "public apology, remedial action, or removal of ministerial salary for a period".

Lord Evans said these had been recommended by his committee, adding that "if there's been a technical breach perhaps there should be a small penalty".

Asked about whether he thought the government had been upholding high standards in public life, he said ministers could have paid more attention to these issues.

He said: "Had the government a year or two ago really given attention to public standards issues and handled those carefully, then I think many of the political problems that they've had over the last six months wouldn't have happened."

Lord Evans was also asked specifically about the damage stories around parties in Downing Street during lockdown may have done to public view of standards in government.

He said ministers needed "to be setting a high example" to build trust with the public."

"From that point of view, it's a really worrying development that we're seeing," he added.