Head of ethics watchdog calls for limits on MPs’ second jobs
The head of the most senior ethics watchdog has called for some form of limit on MPs’ second jobs, telling Sky News it is “hard to argue” some politicians are putting parliament first.
MPs should be given an “indicative” ceiling on how much time to spend on their extra-parliamentary roles, according to an interview with the chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, Lord Evans.
The crossbench peer, who spent his career in the secret service and was head of MI5 for six years, today praises the “valuable” work by Sky News in the Westminster Accounts project which has spent the last seven months examining the role of money in politics. He today uses a major interview to push for change.
In a rare wide-ranging interview, Lord Evans also:
• Criticised the attempt by Boris Johnson’s government to change the standards system in response to the Owen Paterson affair as “not the right way to behave. That can’t be the right way to behave in public office.”
• Said there were “very disgraceful” episodes over the last three years involving breaches of parliamentary standards.
• Pressed on Mr Johnson’s leadership, he said: “The tone from the top, the leadership is very important…. The way that leaders behave will set a tone that others will follow.”
• Said it was still too hard to identify the ultimate donor of money in British politics, the system isn’t transparent enough and “there are still risks of foreign money coming into the political process here”.
Lord Evans says that Sky’s Westminster Accounts project highlights how there remains a problem with some MPs and the amount of time they spend on second jobs.
“There have been some quite well-documented cases where it’s hard to argue that this person is putting their main focus on their parliamentary duties, given the amount of time that they appear to be giving to other activities.”
Lord Evans, who steps down after his five-year term expires in the autumn, says it is for parliament, not his committee to set precise rules, and concedes this exercise is “difficult”. Nevertheless, in his interview he says MPs should try again to achieve this.
“We’ve suggested that one might want to give indicative figures in terms of hours. So far, the parliamentary authorities have not decided to go down that route, but we think there are attractions in that.”
The former prime minister Boris Johnson proposed a fixed limit to second jobs in the wake of the lobbying scandal involving former Tory MP Owen Paterson, but later abandoned the plans in the face of a Tory backbench revolt.
Lord Evans declined to criticise Boris Johnson by name but made clear his unhappiness with how the ex-PM behaved at key moments
In this parliament, from December 2019 until he stood down in June, Mr Johnson earned £5.1m, more than any other MP.
Theresa May, another former PM, has earned £2.7m, the Westminster Accounts tool produced by Sky News together with media company Tortoise shows.
Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, has proposed a ban on second jobs, but shadow foreign secretary David Lammy has continued with well-paid media work and speeches worth over £272,000.
The Committee on Standards in Public Life does not investigate individuals and instead makes suggestions on how to change the rules directly to the prime minister, so Lord Evans would not comment on individual cases.
Asked he if was disappointed the most high-profile figures – ex-PMs – also earn the most outside the Commons, he replied: “I think the critical thing is it needs to be clear to the public and particularly to people’s constituents that the priority afforded by MPs, whether they’re well known or whether they’re less known, is on the interests of their constituents and of serving in parliament and not focusing on their own economic or other career interests.”
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Lord Evans also issued a stark warning on the failure of the government and parliament to pass stricter rules on donations.
In stark criticism of successive Tory administrations – including that of Rishi Sunak – Lord Evans said: “One of the principles of public life is openness, and I don’t think there is enough information about where money is coming from.
“I don’t think it’s easy to identify who is giving money. I think there are still risks of foreign money coming into the political process here.”
Earlier this year, Sky’s Westminster Accounts series highlighted how donations direct to MPs – which do not go through the Electoral Commission – go through a less rigorous checking process than other donations.
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Lord Evans continued: “We made a number of recommendations on this. The government has not accepted those. We think that’s a mistake.
“We have been assured and this has been said repeatedly by the government, that the rules are strict and rigorous. That’s not our view. The rules are not strict. They are not rigorous and they are insufficiently transparent.”
He suggested that companies can be used to disguise the source of foreign donations, which are illegal under the UK political system.
“The .. first problem is lack of real openness. And just to say ‘I have been given money by company X’, when you can’t work out where company X got that money from (and) who actually controls that company, is really not a satisfactory way of discharging responsibility for openness.
“And it’s also very important that we can protect the political system from an improper influence, whether that’s from business interests, whether that’s from extreme political interests, or whether that’s from foreign powers. And transparency is a really important part of that. And the transparency rules at the moment, in our view, the view of my committee are not strong enough.”
Lord Evans declined to criticise Mr Johnson by name but made clear his unhappiness with the way the former prime minister behaved at key moments.
Lord Evans singled out for criticism the Owen Paterson affair, highlighting “someone who was clearly breaching the parliamentary rules (who) went through due process and there was an attempt to change the rules in the middle of the process. That’s not the right way to behave. That can’t be the right way to behave in public office”.
Asked about the lord’s comments, Housing Secretary Michael Gove told Sky News: “Lord Evans is always a helpful commentator on these issues, given his position in charge of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.
“But I do think that we have a fair, transparent and effective system at the moment.”
A new public inquiry will “uncover the truth” behind the so-called “Battle of Orgreave”, a bloody fight between striking miners and police officers in the 1980s.
One hundred and twenty people were injured in the violent confrontation on 18 June 1984, outside a coal processing factory in Orgreave, South Yorkshire.
Five thousand miners clashed with an equal number of armed and mounted police during a day of fighting.
Police used horse charges, riot shields and batons against the picketers, even as some were retreating.
Masses of miners and police clashed during the day of fighting
Police officers on horses charged against protesters
In the aftermath, miners were blamed for the violence in what campaigners believe was an institutional “frame-up”.
“There were so many lies,” says Chris Peace, from campaign group Orgreave Truth and Justice, “and it’s a real historic moment to get to this stage.”
“There’s a lot of information already in the public domain,” she adds, “but there’s still some papers that are embargoed, which will hopefully now be brought to light.”
Campaigner Chris Peace
Although dozens of miners were arrested, trials against them all collapsed due to allegations of unreliable police evidence.
Campaigners say some involved have been left with “physical and psychological damage”, but until now, previous governments have refused calls for a public inquiry.
Launching the inquiry today, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told Sky Newsi that she wanted to “make sure” campaigners now got “proper answers”.
“We’ve obviously had unanswered questions about what happened at Orgreave for over 40 years,” Ms Cooper says, “and when we were elected to government, we determined to take this forward.”
A police officer tackling a miner
A bleeding protester being led away by police during the ‘Battle of Orgreave’
The Bishop of Sheffield, Pete Wilcox, will chair the inquiry
The inquiry will be a statutory one, meaning that witnesses will be compelled to come and give evidence, and chaired by the Bishop of Sheffield, Pete Wilcox.
“I’m really happy,” says Carl Parkinson, a former miner who was at Orgreave on the day of the clash, “but why has it took so long?”
“A lot of those colleagues and close friends have passed away, and they’ll never get to see any outcome.”
Former miner Carl Parkinson
Former miner Chris Skidmore
Mr Parkinson and Chris Skidmore, who was also there that day, were among the group of campaigners informed first-hand by Ms Cooper about the public inquiry at the Orgreave site.
“It wasn’t frightening to start off with,” Mr Skidmore remembers of the day itself, “but then what I noticed was the amount of police officers who had no identification numbers on. It all felt planned.”
“And it wasn’t just one truncheon,” says Mr Parkinson, “there were about 30, or 40. And it was simultaneous, like it was orchestrated – just boom, boom, boom, boom.
“And there’s lads with a split down their heads for no good reason, they’d done nothing wrong. We were just there to peacefully picket.”
Police used riot shields against the picketers, even as some were retreating
In the aftermath of the fighting, miners were blamed for the violence
In the intervening years, South Yorkshire Police have paid more than £400,000 in compensation to affected miners and their families.
But no official inquiry has ever looked at the documents surrounding the day’s events, the lead-up to it and the aftermath.
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“We need to have trust and confidence restored in the police,” says South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard, “and part of that is about people, like this campaign, getting the justice that they deserve.
“Obviously, we’ve had things like Hillsborough, CSE [Child Sexual Exploitation] in Rotherham, and we want to turn the page.”
Consumers will get stronger protections with a new water watchdog – as trust in water companies takes a record dive.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed will announce on Monday that the government will set up the new water ombudsman with legal powers to resolve disputes, rather than the current voluntary system.
The watchdog will mean an expansion of the Consumer Council for Water’s (CCW) role and will bring the water sector into line with other utilities that have legally binding consumer watchdogs.
Consumers will then have a single point of contact for complaints.
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The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the new watchdog would help “re-establish partnership” between water companies and consumers.
A survey by the CCW in May found trust in water companies had reached a new low, with fewer than two-thirds of people saying they provided value for money.
Just 35% said they thought charges from water companies were fair – even before the impact could be felt from a 26% increase in bills in April.
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‘We’ll be able to eliminate sewage spillages’
Mr Reed is planning a “root and branch reform” of the water industry – which he branded “absolutely broken” – that he will reveal alongside a major review of the sector on Monday.
The review is expected to recommend the scrapping of water regulator Ofwat and the creation of a new one, to incorporate the work of the CCW.
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A water pollution protest by Surfers Against Sewage in Brighton
Campaigners and MPs have accused Ofwat of failing to hold water operators to account, while the companies complain a focus on keeping bills down has prevented appropriate infrastructure investment.
On Sunday, Mr Reed avoided answering whether he would get rid of Ofwat or not when asked on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.
He pledged to halve sewage pollution by water companies by 2030 and said Labour would eliminate unauthorised sewage spillages in a decade.
Mr Reed announced £104 billion of private investment to help the government do that.
Victoria Atkins MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: “While stronger consumer protections are welcome in principle, they are only one part of the serious long-term reforms the water sector needs.
“We all want the water system to improve, and honesty about the scale of the challenge is essential. Steve Reed must explain that bill payers are paying for the £104 billion investment plan. Ministers must also explain how replacing one quango with another is going to clean up our rivers and lakes.
“Public confidence in the water system will only be rebuilt through transparency, resilience, and delivery.”
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