Sunday, July 04, 2021
Keeping it in-house
Faced with the possible embarrassment of an independent investigation into government contracts and lobbying involving a number of senior Conservative politicians including the former prime minister David Cameron, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, the MP and former health secretary Matt Hancock and the peer Francis Maude, Boris Johnson appears to have taken the safe option. The solicitor he has appointed to run it is a former Conservative party member who stood as a council candidate.
That does not mean of course that the inquiry will be compromised nor that the chair will not do a good job, clearly Nigel Boardman is a professional who will undertake the task he has been allocated properly and without fear or favour.
That does not mean of course that the inquiry will be compromised nor that the chair will not do a good job, clearly Nigel Boardman is a professional who will undertake the task he has been allocated properly and without fear or favour.
Johnson's problem is that the appointment has prompted concerns that Boardman may be perceived as being too close to the Tories and the government, so that anything short of a full denunciation of the government will not be taken seriously. In this respect, Johnson is his own worst enemy.
As the Guardian says, Boardman’s appointment was criticised because he is a paid non-executive director to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and is a long-term adviser to the law firm Slaughter and May, which was awarded £7m in government contracts over the last year. He is on the board of Arbuthnot bank, which has close ties to the Conservative party. His father, Lord Boardman, was a former government minister and Tory party treasurer under Margaret Thatcher:
A number of senior figures have previously questioned whether Boardman is the right person to run an inquiry into conflicts of interest.
Suzanne Heywood, whose husband, Jeremy, was the cabinet secretary when Greensill entered Downing Street, questioned his suitability in an interview with the Guardian.
Asked to comment on Boardman’s previous Conservative party membership and whether he had declared it before taking up the role on the inquiry, sources said he had not been a member of a political party for more than 20 years.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “This is an independent review. Nigel Boardman is a distinguished legal expert, having undertaken a number of reviews scrutinising the government, and he was asked to lead this review following the appropriate due diligence checks.
“The review is ongoing, and as we have set out, we will publish and present his findings to parliament and the government’s response, in due course.”
Labour’s deputy leader and shadow chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, Angela Rayner, said Boardman’s former Tory membership was further proof that the inquiry should be dropped.
“After stuffing non-executive director posts with political acolytes, it appears the prime minister is now appointing Tory cronies to lead investigations too,” she said.
“This investigation is clearly independent in name only and needs to be scrapped in favour of a properly independent investigation that will get to the bottom of what has been going on at the heart of government.”
I look forward to the inquiry's report with interest.
As the Guardian says, Boardman’s appointment was criticised because he is a paid non-executive director to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and is a long-term adviser to the law firm Slaughter and May, which was awarded £7m in government contracts over the last year. He is on the board of Arbuthnot bank, which has close ties to the Conservative party. His father, Lord Boardman, was a former government minister and Tory party treasurer under Margaret Thatcher:
A number of senior figures have previously questioned whether Boardman is the right person to run an inquiry into conflicts of interest.
Suzanne Heywood, whose husband, Jeremy, was the cabinet secretary when Greensill entered Downing Street, questioned his suitability in an interview with the Guardian.
Asked to comment on Boardman’s previous Conservative party membership and whether he had declared it before taking up the role on the inquiry, sources said he had not been a member of a political party for more than 20 years.
A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “This is an independent review. Nigel Boardman is a distinguished legal expert, having undertaken a number of reviews scrutinising the government, and he was asked to lead this review following the appropriate due diligence checks.
“The review is ongoing, and as we have set out, we will publish and present his findings to parliament and the government’s response, in due course.”
Labour’s deputy leader and shadow chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, Angela Rayner, said Boardman’s former Tory membership was further proof that the inquiry should be dropped.
“After stuffing non-executive director posts with political acolytes, it appears the prime minister is now appointing Tory cronies to lead investigations too,” she said.
“This investigation is clearly independent in name only and needs to be scrapped in favour of a properly independent investigation that will get to the bottom of what has been going on at the heart of government.”
I look forward to the inquiry's report with interest.
