IN A PICKLES
New blow for Tories as watchdog peer says he warned them over ethics scandal & demands reform
RULES on ministers and senior civil servants bagging private sector jobs need urgent reform, a Government ethics chief said.
It has also emerged David Cameron and ministers face six inquiries into the Greensill Capital lobbying storm.
Lord Pickles, chair of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, said he was “really unhappy” with the rules and had been “warning of the possibility of a scandal” for some time.
He told MPs there did not appear to be “any boundaries at all” between civil servants and the private sector.
The fallout from former Prime
Minister Cameron’s lobbying on behalf of his ex-employer,
Lex Greensill, spilled over into Whitehall as it emerged a top official also worked for the financier.
Bill Crothers, an ex-chief commercial officer, began a parttime role at Greensill in September 2015 – with Cabinet Office approval – despite not leaving his civil service job until November that year.
Last night, Mr Crothers was found to have broken ACOBA rules by failing to declare an unpaid role in 2016.
Lord Pickles wrote to Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove to alert him to the breach and ask him to act.
In a letter to ACOBA, Mr Crothers apologised for his “honest mistake” in failing to notify the watchdog about his role on the Global Board of Trustees of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply from 2016 to 2018.
It comes as civil service boss Simon Case demanded all senior mandarins declare any second jobs by today amid “acute concern” in Downing Street.
Lord Pickles warned the “revolving door” of officials joining firms led to the assumption they will be “looked after”. He told the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee yesterday that ACOBA scrutinised just 108 appointments out of 34,000 people quitting the civil service last year.
Lord Pickles said the revelation about Mr Crothers’ second job requires “a full and transparent explanation”.
He said it was not an isolated matter, adding: “I think it also highlights anomalies in the system which I think require immediate address.”
Ex-Home Office permanent secretary Sir David Normington added he was “absolutely amazed” by the development.
It comes as Mr Cameron agreed to help inquiries from MPs over the Greensill scandal, which centres on his bids to lobby ministers for Covid support for the firm.
He started working as a Greensill adviser in 2018, two years after leaving No10.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is expected to give evidence to MPs.
Tory PM Boris Johnson has commissioned a probe into links between the firm and the Government. He also backed Lord Pickles over the need to clarify blurred lines between Whitehall and the private sector.
Labour chief Keir Starmer said rules on lobbying “obviously aren’t working”.
Mr Johnson is also facing scrutiny after No10 admitted he asked for a progress check on a Saudi bid to buy Newcastle United.
Meanwhile, questions are mounting for other officials, including No10 deputy chief of staff Simone Finn, who reportedly owned a stake in a firm advising governments. She left that role when she joined Downing Street.
Ex-Met Police chief Lord Bernard Hogan Howe reportedly also worked as an advisor for Greensill while in a non-executive Cabinet Office role.
It emerged ACOBA member Andrew Cumpsty runs a lobbying firm but Lord Pickles defended his appointment.