TONY BLAIR fudged the investigations into the conduct of John Prescott, Tessa Jowell and David Blunkett and must bring in a truly independent figure to police the ministerial code, MPs will say today.
The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Sir Philip Mawer, or the Parliamentary Ombudsman, Ann Abraham, should be brought in to investigate potential breaches of the ministerial rules, according to a report by the Public Administration Committee.
Mr Blair blocked an investigation into a potential breach resulting from Mr Prescott’s two-night stay on the Colorado ranch of Philip Anschutz, the owner of the Millennium Dome. An investigation that found against Mr Prescott would have made it difficult for him to continue as Deputy Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister’s decision in March to appoint Sir John Bourn, the Auditor-General, to police the system was only a “small step” in the right direction because there are questions about whether he can establish the facts when serious allegations are made.
The committee says that the Government had failed to learn from the haphazard way previous inquiries have been conducted, such as that into Peter Mandelson’s relationship with the Hindujas. Its report says that this “may finally have established the facts [to clear him] but came too late” to save Mr Mandelson’s career.
Advertisement
The report is also critical of the investigation into David Blunkett’s conduct at the Home Office, which relied on “circumstantial evidence” and failed to reach a definitive conclusion.
The report says: “In all these cases, as in others previously, there has been a lack of clarity about the means for establishing the facts, and who should do so.”
It rebuffs the Prime Minister’s argument that an independent investigator would constrain his right to exercise “essentially political judgments” about the conduct of ministers.
It says that any independent investigators must make their findings available to Parliament and the public and should reserve to the Prime Minister the right to judge whether the facts amount to a breach of the ministerial code and what the consequences should be.
Tony Wright, the chairman of the committee, said: “Providing the means for independent investigation of alleged breaches is long overdue. It is puzzling why the Government has resisted previous calls for independent investigation. Those making such allegations would then have to put up or shut up.
Advertisement
“It would not interfere with the political accountability of ministers, or with the political responsibility of the Prime Minister for the fate of ministers; but it would reduce the regular frenzy and provide a more informed basis upon which political judgments can be made.”
The report also said that instead of being “advised” to declare their interests, as at present, ministers should be under an obligation to do so. Ministers coming into a department should be required to provide their permanent secretaries with a full list in writing of interests that might be thought to give rise to a conflict.
The report comes as Jack Straw, the Commons Leader, gave warning that rules restricting election spending could contribute to the growth of single-issue politics in Britain with lobby groups becoming ever more powerful.
Mr Straw told an Electoral Commission conference that the effect of campaign finance rules in the US had been to channel money away from mainstream political parties into single-issue organisations.
While such groups have a part to play, they should not become a substitute for, or exercise undue influence on, political parties, he said.
Advertisement
“Such lobby groups are superficially attractive. If you agree with their premise, it is easy to support them. Engaging with mainstream political parties is more complex. By their nature political parties are forced to make difficult decisions between competing demands, but when parties allow their decisions to be dictated by single-issue politics it distorts policymaking.”
Mr Straw also said that caps on donations were not a straightforward answer to the problem of financial backers exerting undue influence.
He cited US donation re-strictions giving birth to an “avoidance industry” of single-issue organisations. Third-party groups establish themselves independently of the political parties to influence the nomination, election, appointment or even defeat of certain parties and candidates. There is no limit on the amount such groups can spend, and recent elections have witnessed heavy spending by them with the sole purpose of attacking presidential candidates.
“The US experience shows how changes to party finance laws can, unintentionally, make changes to an entire political culture,” he said.