Standards probe ‘like letting thief investigate a burglary’

THE Prime Minister’s decision to deny his ministerial standards adviser full independence is tantamount to letting a ‘thief investigate a burglary’, Labour said.

Boris Johnson appointed Sir Christopher Geidt, the Queen’s former private secretary, to the role on Wednesday but said he would not have the power to launch his own inquiries.

And he made it clear that he, as head of the Government, would be the final adjudicator on any breaches of the ministerial code. But Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves tweeted: ‘The police don’t require the permission of a thief to investigate a burglary. The Prime Minister shouldn’t be able to block investigations into his ministers – or himself – when they break the ministerial code.’

Mr Johnson said yesterday Lord Geidt would do an ‘outstanding job’ in his review of his flat’s refurbishment.

He declined to commit to immediately publish in full any findings from the peer as he carries out his own review into whether any donations were properly declared. However, calling Lord Geidt a ‘person of great integrity’, Lord Evans, chairman of the committee on standards in public life, told BBC Radio 4’s World At One: ‘One area we recommended... was that the adviser should have the right to initiate investigations and then to report the facts to the Prime Minister. [He] has not accepted that recommendation on this occasion, although he has said the adviser can recommend to him that there should be an investigation. We still believe that full independence so that an adviser can advise the Prime Minister on the basis of his own initiative is valuable.’