Blair's sleaze probes leading to loss of public trust

4.11.24pm GMT Thu 9th Mar 2006

Public trust is being undermined by the way alleged misconduct by ministers is policed, says the standards watchdog. Sir Alistair Graham, chairman of the committee on standards in public life, says the controversy over Tessa Jowell has highlighted the problem. He was interviewed on Radio 4's Today programme and said that he was puzzled about why Tony Blair has failed to change the rules.

His committee wants independent figures, not senior civil servants, to investigate all claims that the ministerial code has been broken. The Cabinet Secretary was called upon to check whether Ms Jowell had breached any rules and it was Tony Blair who cleared her of wrongdoing.

But Sir Alistair said the current policing arrangements are "ad hoc". "The present system is demonstrably redundant and leads to a loss of public confidence and damage to the standing of the government," he said.

Since 2003, the Committee for Standards in Public Life has been pressing for a panel of independent investigators to be set up. The panel would be agreed between the government and opposition parties after each election.

The panel would be asked to step in every time there were claims the ministerial code had been broken. They would investigate, publish their findings about the facts and the prime minister would then decide what action would be taken.

Sir Alistair said the Jowell affair, and past controversies involving Peter Mandelson and David Blunkett, show the problems of the current system. "At regular intervals he has been faced with allegations of breaches of the ministerial code in which he and his government have become the centre of a media storm. This leads to immense pressure on a minister, whose future will often depend on the vagaries of an ad hoc investigation." Sir Alistair told the interviewer that at the moment a local government councillor is subject to a more onerous regime as far as their ethical standards are concerned than a senior government minister.