Johnson has committed "clear breach" of Whitehall business appointment rules, says Acoba The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), the body that is supposed to rule on what jobs former ministers and officials can take when they leave office to avoid any conflict of interest, has criticised Boris Johnson for failing to comply with its rules. For two years after leaving office, former ministers are meant to seek advice from Acoba before starting a new job. They are also meant to follow Acoba’s advice about what is and is not appropriate. But Johnson did not consult Acoba before finalising his new job with the Daily Mail. He only got in touch 30 minutes before his appointment was announced, Acoba has revealed. A spokesperson for the committee said: The ministerial code states that ministers must ensure that no new appointments are announced, or taken up, before the committee has been able to provide its advice. An application received 30 minutes before an appointment is announced is a clear breach. We have written to Mr Johnson for an explanation and will publish correspondence in due course, in line with our policy of transparency. But Johnson will not face any penalty for not consulting Acoba earlier. It cannot block former ministers from starting new jobs, and there are no sanctions it can impose on them either. This is why, as a watchdog, it is considered toothless. Acoba is chaired by the former Tory cabinet minister Eric Pickles. The Acoba rules are supposed primarily to stop companies being able to benefit commercially from government insider knowledge. But the Daily Mail has hired Johnson as a celebrity politician and journalist, and not for his commercial insight, and so Johnson might argue there is no conflict of interest anyway. As PM, Johnson did go to remarkable lengths to curry favour with the Daily Mail, even trying to get its editor-in-chief, Paul Dacre, installed as chair of Ofcom. His new job could be seen as payback for this, and Acoba says one reason for its rules is to stop ministers being “influenced by the hope or expectation of future employment with a particular firm or organisation”. However Conservative politicians, and some Labour ones, have always tried to keep the Mail on side. It would be hard to show that the expectation of personal gain, rather than the expectation of favourable coverage, was the main explanation for Johnson’s indulgence towards Dacre and his editors. Afternoon summary Boris Johnson committed a “clear breach” of rules on former ministers taking up new jobs by telling an appointments body he was becoming a Daily Mail columnist only half an hour before the public announcement, the watchdog has said. Johnson has told allies not to vote against the privileges committee’s report on Partygate on Monday when MPs will decide whether to give it their formal approval. Johnson has used his first column in the Daily Mail to confess to “40 years of moral failure”. But he was not talking about his troubled relationship with the truth, his political opportunism or his rackety private life. Instead, he devoted the article to a light-hearted account of trying a weight loss drug. He said that it didn’t work for him, but he concluded that “we are still in the foothills of what these drugs can do” and that one day they will be “transformative”. The only jib directed at Rishi Sunak was a reference to a cabinet colleague looking like a “chiselled whippet”. Poor people were hit hardest by Covid – and poor people living in the north of England were hit hardest of all – because of government cuts to health services in the years leading up to the pandemic, experts have said. The Daily Mail has just published the first column by its new columnist, Boris Johnson. It’s about Johnson trying a weight loss drug, which he says in his case didn’t work. Here is a question from a reader. Despite the pro-Johnson MPs now saying they’ll abstain on Monday’s vote, could an opposition MP declare against the motion and thus force a division in order to see which Conservative MPs do and don’t vote? Yes, they could. And this does happen, particularly when the government is abstaining on opposition day motions. It happened last month on a Labour motion on leasehold, which was passed by 174 votes to 0. To contrive a vote like this, some MPs have to shout no when the speaker calls for a vote by acclamation (“all those in favour of the motion say aye” etc). Under the rules, you are not meant to shout no and vote yes, but if you abstain, you won’t get into trouble. To make sure the division actually happens, the side voting yes also has to put up tellers for the no side. In some respects, though, it is at the discretion of the speaker. If the “yes” voices are much louder and more numerous than the “no” ones, he will just declare the motion carried, and move on to the next business. Poor people hit hardest by Covid because of NHS cuts, experts say Poor people were hit hardest by Covid – and poor people living in the north of England were hit hardest of all – because of government cuts to health services in the years leading up to the pandemic, experts have said. Amelia Hill has the story here. In response to the complaint from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (see 3.26pm), a spokesperson for Boris Johnson said the former PM had been in touch with Acoba and claimed “the normal process is being followed”. Johnson has committed "clear breach" of Whitehall business appointment rules, says Acoba The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), the body that is supposed to rule on what jobs former ministers and officials can take when they leave office to avoid any conflict of interest, has criticised Boris Johnson for failing to comply with its rules. For two years after leaving office, former ministers are meant to seek advice from Acoba before starting a new job. They are also meant to follow Acoba’s advice about what is and is not appropriate. But Johnson did not consult Acoba before finalising his new job with the Daily Mail. He only got in touch 30 minutes before his appointment was announced, Acoba has revealed. A spokesperson for the committee said: The ministerial code states that ministers must ensure that no new appointments are announced, or taken up, before the committee has been able to provide its advice. An application received 30 minutes before an appointment is announced is a clear breach. We have written to Mr Johnson for an explanation and will publish correspondence in due course, in line with our policy of transparency. But Johnson will not face any penalty for not consulting Acoba earlier. It cannot block former ministers from starting new jobs, and there are no sanctions it can impose on them either. This is why, as a watchdog, it is considered toothless. Acoba is chaired by the former Tory cabinet minister Eric Pickles. The Acoba rules are supposed primarily to stop companies being able to benefit commercially from government insider knowledge. But the Daily Mail has hired Johnson as a celebrity politician and journalist, and not for his commercial insight, and so Johnson might argue there is no conflict of interest anyway. As PM, Johnson did go to remarkable lengths to curry favour with the Daily Mail, even trying to get its editor-in-chief, Paul Dacre, installed as chair of Ofcom. His new job could be seen as payback for this, and Acoba says one reason for its rules is to stop ministers being “influenced by the hope or expectation of future employment with a particular firm or organisation”. However Conservative politicians, and some Labour ones, have always tried to keep the Mail on side. It would be hard to show that the expectation of personal gain, rather than the expectation of favourable coverage, was the main explanation for Johnson’s indulgence towards Dacre and his editors. The Conservative MP Tim Loughton told Times Radio that he thought “many” Tory MPs would vote for the privileges committee report into Boris Johnson. He said: We voted to set up this committee, we voted for the chair of the committee, so we need to support its work whether or not people like the outcome. It’s a legitimate committee of the house and it’s a pretty damning report. It’s very sad end into Boris Johnson’s parliamentary career, but he’s brought it upon himself and he’s decided rather than to stand his ground and argue his case, he’s decided to fly outside of parliament as he resigned last week. So I can’t see any option but for people to vote for this and to vote against it, I think, would just be crazy. With the pro-Johnson Tories now set to abstain (see 11.47am and 12.46pm), instead of voting against the report, it looks as if there might not even be a division. Instead, on Monday the motion approving the report may just go through on the nod. Rhun ap Iorwerth appointed as leader of Plaid Cymru Rhun ap Iorwerth has been announced as the new leader of Plaid Cymru and faces the tough job of getting the party back on track after a misogyny and harassment scandal, Steven Morris reports. Daily Mail confirms that Boris Johnson will be joining the paper as a columnist The Daily Mail has confirmed that Boris Johnson will be joining the paper as a columnist, starting tomorrow. In a video posted on Twitter, he says it will be “completely unexpurgated stuff”. But he jokes about covering politics “as little as possible”, implying it won’t be entirely Westminster focused. He also says the column is going to be “exactly what I think”. This may present a challenge. In their excellent book Johnson at 10, Anthony Seldon and Raymond Newell say that one of the many problems Johnson had as a prime minister was that he kept changing his mind. They quote one official as saying: He wildly oscillated in what he thought. In one day he would have three meetings in which he would say three completely different things depending on who was present, and then deny that he had changed his position. It became difficult when he took a decision to know whether it would hold, and how much importance to give it, because so often he changed his mind, even on Covid. James Duddridge confirms pro-Johnson Tories won"t vote against privileges report, saying "people just want to move on" Sir James Duddridge, the former parliamentary private secretary to Boris Johnson, has gone public with a version of a message from the former PM to his supporters this morning, urging them not to vote against the privileges committee report. (See 11.47am.) He has told Politico that “people just want to move on”. This is from Politico’s Emilio Casalicchio.