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Rules for hiring new former ministers and civil servants are “useless”, admitted the senior Conservative Party official responsible for overseeing them.
Sir Eric Pickles is chairman of the Advisory Board on Business Appointments (Akoba), which recently discovered that Boris Johnson had broken rules in his new job as a columnist. daily mail.
The former prime minister asked Akova for advice 30 minutes before announcing his appointment online.
Akoba said Johnson’s conduct constituted a “clear and obvious” violation of the rules, but no sanctions could be imposed.
Akoba was also embroiled in a dispute over Labor’s appointment of former civil servant Sue Gray as Sir Keir Starmer’s new chief of staff.
Regulators ultimately ruled that she should have a six-month waiting period before taking the role.
But when I speak on Radio 4 today Speaking on Saturday’s show, Lord Pickles said Akoba needed stronger enforcement powers, including the power to impose fines, as the current rules were “too stiff and require new bruxism to chew”.
“I often write to the deputy prime minister to tell him, ‘This is causing trouble and what you do is your problem,'” he said.
“It’s my kindness to say, ‘The rules don’t work, so it doesn’t mean you can do anything.'”
When asked whether Mr Johnson would be sanctioned under the new rules, Lord Pickles apparently suggested that sanctions would not have been necessary.
“We said when Boris was prime minister that we didn’t really think about newspaper columns or television appearances, or that if Boris decided to be a presenter on the Today show, it wouldn’t matter too much,” he said.
“We are concerned with government interests, so under the rules we are proposing, only standard conditions will apply. So if Boris had listened to us, there would have been no talk.”
Lord Pickles had previously said that a post-government job crackdown was necessary because the existing government was based on the mistaken notion that “good guys” could be trusted to act honorably.
Regarding his proposal for new business rules, he said: “This will make the rules legally binding on ministers and civil servants, and make it clear that those who regulate cannot be expected to continue in the same field when they leave government.” ”
He added, “We need financial penalties for people to actually take these things seriously.”
The Conservative MP said fines would be reserved for the “most egregious and blatant abuses”.