>[*Standards watchdog urges Boris Johnson to appoint new ethics adviser*](https://www.userwalls.news/n/standards-watchdog-urges-boris-johnson-appoint-ethics-adviser-3431410/)
>
>Tuesday’s hearing came after the chair of the committee on standards in public life urged Johnson to appoint a new ethics adviser immediately, or risk undermining public confidence in the rules.
>
>Christopher Geidt resigned as the prime minister’s ethics adviser earlier this month, saying he had been put in [an “impossible and odious” position](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jun/16/lord-geidt-letter-says-request-from-boris-johnson-put-him-in-odious-position) by being asked to rubber stamp a plan to maintain steel tariffs.
>
>Lord Geidt had previously conceded at a hearing with MPs that it was “reasonable” to ask whether Johnson may have broken the ministerial code by being fined for breaching Covid rules.
>
>After Geidt’s resignation, Downing Street made clear it would not immediately replace him and was instead reviewing the system for overseeing the ministerial code.
>
>In a letter to Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, Jonathan Evans, whose remit is to oversee standards in public life, said he believed that was unsatisfactory.
>
>“It is imperative that an independent adviser on ministers’ interests is appointed, even if temporarily, whilst proposals for the role are developed,” he said.
>
>Lord Evans [pointed to a blogpost](https://cspl.blog.gov.uk/2022/06/16/independent-adviser-role-should-be-strengthened/) his committee published on 16 June, which made the point even before Geidt’s resignation that the regime for enforcing the ministerial code needed strengthening.
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>“At a time of heightened concern about standards in public life, any change to the oversight of ministerial behaviour must be stronger, not weaker, than we have now,” it said.
>
>Evans pointedly copied his letter to Rayner to a string of senior government figures, including the prime minister, the levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, and the paymaster general, Michael Ellis, who often gets sent out to answer questions in parliament about Johnson’s probity.
‘First among equals’ – They’d all do it given the chance.
The same Simon Case who had to be removed from investigating it because it turns out he was doing it as well?
This is a man who knows how bad the behaviour was… as he was there, topping up the Chardonnay
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Highlight:
>[*Standards watchdog urges Boris Johnson to appoint new ethics adviser*](https://www.userwalls.news/n/standards-watchdog-urges-boris-johnson-appoint-ethics-adviser-3431410/)
>
>Tuesday’s hearing came after the chair of the committee on standards in public life urged Johnson to appoint a new ethics adviser immediately, or risk undermining public confidence in the rules.
>
>Christopher Geidt resigned as the prime minister’s ethics adviser earlier this month, saying he had been put in [an “impossible and odious” position](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jun/16/lord-geidt-letter-says-request-from-boris-johnson-put-him-in-odious-position) by being asked to rubber stamp a plan to maintain steel tariffs.
>
>Lord Geidt had previously conceded at a hearing with MPs that it was “reasonable” to ask whether Johnson may have broken the ministerial code by being fined for breaching Covid rules.
>
>After Geidt’s resignation, Downing Street made clear it would not immediately replace him and was instead reviewing the system for overseeing the ministerial code.
>
>In a letter to Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, Jonathan Evans, whose remit is to oversee standards in public life, said he believed that was unsatisfactory.
>
>“It is imperative that an independent adviser on ministers’ interests is appointed, even if temporarily, whilst proposals for the role are developed,” he said.
>
>Lord Evans [pointed to a blogpost](https://cspl.blog.gov.uk/2022/06/16/independent-adviser-role-should-be-strengthened/) his committee published on 16 June, which made the point even before Geidt’s resignation that the regime for enforcing the ministerial code needed strengthening.
>
>“At a time of heightened concern about standards in public life, any change to the oversight of ministerial behaviour must be stronger, not weaker, than we have now,” it said.
>
>Evans pointedly copied his letter to Rayner to a string of senior government figures, including the prime minister, the levelling up secretary, Michael Gove, and the paymaster general, Michael Ellis, who often gets sent out to answer questions in parliament about Johnson’s probity.
‘First among equals’ – They’d all do it given the chance.
The same Simon Case who had to be removed from investigating it because it turns out he was doing it as well?
This is a man who knows how bad the behaviour was… as he was there, topping up the Chardonnay