Boris Johnson has come under fire for another breach of ministerial code for starting a £5000-per-week newspaper column without the approval of the watchdog on business appointments.
Former ministers are required to refer new employment opportunities to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) before accepting it, in order for the watchdog to prevent the appearance of corruption and a revolving door between government and business.
Under the current guidelines, ex-ministers are expected to wait three months after leaving their governmental role before taking up any outside employment, but Johnson never informed the watchdog about his new role with the newspaper and published his first column a week after resigning as foreign secretary and before delivering his resignation speech in the Commons.
In his speech to MPs earlier today, the Brexit mouthpiece accused Theresa May of dithering over Brexit with her plans for the UK’s future relationship with the EU, despite personally signing up to the Prime Minister’s Brexit white paper 10 days ago.
His speech comes 24 hours after the Electoral Commission found the official Vote Leave campaign, of which Johnson was a leading figure, had broken electoral law and overspent their legally defined budget by nearly half a million pounds. The campaign group and specific individuals were fined as a result of the report and the Commission have passed their case files to the police to investigate possible criminal activity.
