Minister claims reports Boris Johnson changed ministerial code to protect himself are 'misinformation'

A UK minister has claimed reports Boris Johnson changed the ministerial code to protect himself are “misinformation”.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been accused of watering down the rules.

The Northern Ireland Secretary spoke out in defence of changes which allow ministers to remain in their jobs for what could be deemed minor breaches of the code.

Mr Lewis also dismissed claimed the Prime Minister was trying to “water down standards”

He said: “Well, he is not. Let’s remember, there has been a bit of misinformation about this.

“First of all, when the ministerial code is updated, which it is relatively regularly – I’m one of those that has to fill in the ministerial declarations, and that’s updated regularly as well.

“This comes from the recommendations from the commission (Committee on Standards in Public Life) and some of it from Lord Geidt (the independent adviser on ministers’ interests) around this idea of there being a graduated penalty process.

“People still have to resign if they mislead the House or something serious but there was a request from others, including Lord Geidt and the commission, that we do have this kind of graduated approach.

“So it means (in the past) if there was a minor infraction that in theory was too minor to resign (over), then there was no penalty. There are now a series of penalties for different infractions if anybody commits an infraction in the first place.”

The changes mean a Government policy statement say it is “disproportionate” to expect ministers to resign or face the sack for “minor” violations of the code’s provisions.

Instead it has been updated, giving the Prime Minister the option of ordering a lesser sanction such as “some form of public apology, remedial action or removal of ministerial salary for a period”.

It had previously expected that ministers should go if they were found to have breached the code.

At the same time Mr Johnson has drawn backing from allowing his independent adviser on the code, Lord Geidt, to mount investigations into possible violations on his own initiative.

The changes come just days after the final report by the senior civil servant Sue Gray into lockdown parties in Downing Street led to renewed calls for Mr Johnson to resign.