Labour: We’ll end Tory sleaze with five-year jobs ban
Plan would stop ex-ministers’ lobbying of private firms
LABOUR will tomorrow announce plans for a five-year ban on former ministers lining their pockets with cushy consultancy jobs.
Deputy leader Angela Rayner will propose an independent Integrity and Ethics Commission.
It could block ministers from lobbying, consultancy or paid work relating to their government jobs for at least five years after leaving office.
Such a ban would have prevented disgraced ex-Environment and Food Secretary Owen Paterson from pocketing £500 an hour from a sausage-processing firm.
And it would have stopped former Tory prime minister David Cameron getting £45million in share options from finance firm Greensill Capital.
Greensill, founded by Australian billionaire Lex Greensill, was bidding for government contracts.
Ms Rayner will say: “If the former PM can text everyone in his phonebook to help his dodgy mate Lex Greensill get access to taxpayers’
money, it is clear the rules themselves are broken.”
She will also tell the Institute of Government in London: “We have a system where the door is held wide open for former ministers to line their pockets as soon as they leave office.”
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments governs the rules on ex-ministers working in the private sector. But the Prime Minister is the only one with the power to order investigations – including into himself.
Ms Rayner accused the Government of “muzzling its own watchdog” after ACOBA rapped former Tory Chancellor Lord Hammond for lobbying the Treasury on behalf of OakNorth bank, which has links to Saudi Arabian funding.
Conservative ministers refused to sanction him further.
Ms Rayner added: “This is the latest evidence that Boris Johnson will not tackle the corruption that has engulfed... the Conservative party.”
The proposed integrity body would impose sanctions, such as demanding the return of severance pay, worth £16,000.
A source close to Ms Rayner said: “Angela is really serious about cleaning up this mess.”
The door is open to minsters lining their pockets