Boris Johnson – latest: Former PM accused of breaking yet more rules over Daily Mail job

If he were still an MP, then there’d certainly be a case for removing the whip from him. But even though he’s skipped that particular pen, he is still snuffling around the sty, Sean O’Grady writes:

If it is right to, in effect, kick Boris Johnson out of parliament for knowingly lying on at least eight separate occasions, why, one may ask, is it alright for him to be a member of the Conservative Party?

If he were still an MP, then there’d certainly be a case for removing the whip from him; and, now that he’s skipped that particular pen, our greased piglet is still snuffling around the sty.

He is, at the time of writing, a member of the Tory party, throwing his weight around, chucking odure at Rishi Sunak, making trouble and getting his snout firmly in the trough to find a perpetual leadership campaign.

But why should any party put up with that sort of behaviour?

Boris Johnson committed a “clear breach” of the rules by only informing the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments of becoming a columnist at the Daily Mail half an hour before the public announcement, the watchdog has said.

A spokeswoman for the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) said: “The Ministerial Code states that Ministers must ensure that no new appointments are announced, or taken up, before the Committee has been able to provide its advice.

“An application received 30 mins before an appointment is announced is a clear breach.

“We have written to Mr Johnson for an explanation and will publish correspondence in due course, in line with our policy of transparency.”

Boris Johnson has confirmed he is joining the Daily Mail as a columnist but could already be in hot water with parliamentary authorities over the job.

The former prime minister – who has vowed to offer uncensored views – could again find himself under scrutiny after Whitehall’s anti-corruption watchdog said he had not applied for clearance.

The chairman of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), Tory peer Lord Eric Pickles, is writing to Mr Johnson about his new role.

The right-leaning outlet confirmed the news on Twitter on Friday, saying it is “delighted” to welcome “one of the wittiest and most original writers in the business”.

In a video shared alongside the announcement, Mr Johnson said he is “thrilled” to contribute to “those illustrious pages”, and promised to deliver “completely unexpurgated stuff”.

Although he quipped he will only cover politics when “I absolutely have to”, the column gives him a powerful platform to take shots at Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with whom he has been publicly clashing.

Mr Johnson’s column will appear in the paper every Saturday.

There has been speculation about whether Mr Johnson would return to his journalism roots after he dramatically quit as an MP last week ahead of a report that found he lied to Parliament with his denials of lockdown rule-breaking in No 10 while prime minister.

Before he became party leader, Mr Johnson received a £275,000 salary to write for the Telegraph, which will likely pale in comparison to the sum he will pocket as a former premier.

But Acoba suggested it was not notified about Mr Johnson’s new role.

Former ministers who have left the Government in the last two years must apply to the independent watchdog before taking up a new appointment or role.

An Acoba spokeswoman told the PA news agency: “We haven’t had an application and we will be writing to Mr Johnson.”

A source close to Mr Johnson insisted he has written to Acoba, but did not say when the letter was sent.

An Australian travel firm previously slammed for its handling of Covid quarantine hotels has been quietly handed a £1.6bn contract covering the UK’s new asylum accommodation ships, The Independent can reveal.

Corporate Travel Management (CTM) was put in charge of the lucrative two-year arrangement in February, weeks before the government revealed it would use a barge as its first offshore accommodation for asylum seekers.

The contract was awarded directly to CTM without a competition, and a lawyer with knowledge of the system said the government had pushed a wider deal originally drawn up for official travel “beyond what it was intended to be used for”.

Our home affairs editor Lizzie Dearden reports:

Another contest will be held in Selby and Ainsty, triggered by Nigel Adams who quit as a Conservative MP after being denied a peerage in Mr Johnson’s resignation honours list.

An SNP MP who previously worked as a police officer has claimed it was highly unusual for a tent to be erected outside Nicola Sturgeon’s home when her husband was arrested as part of a fraud probe into the party’s finances.

Allan Dorans, who spent 15 years in the Metropolitan Police and rose to the level of detective inspector before entering politics, said he “never knew” of any occasions where a structure was assembled outside the home of a suspect accused of fraud.

His comments come just days after James Dornan, an SNP MSP, claimed that there appeared to have been “collusion” between the police and media in an attempt to maximise coverage of the arrest. Party leader Humsa rejected the suggestion.

Sir Michael Marmot, an expert in epidemiology and director of the University College London Institute of Health Equity, told the inquiry that social care and public health spending had gone down before the pandemic, especially in the most deprived parts of the country.

Citing the Government’s own data, he said it showed that the “greater the deprivation, the greater the need, the greater the need, the greater the reduction in local authority spend in general … That will damage the health of people, other things equal, and will contribute to inequalities in health.”

Sir Michael later said it was his general view “that if you look at the evidence from previous pandemics, including the current one that we’re considering, that the impact of the pandemic is very much influenced by pre-existing inequalities in society, including inequalities in health.”

He said it was not just about “whether there was a report somewhere in government about planning for a pandemic, you’ve got to plan for better health and narrow health inequalities, and that will protect you in the pandemic.”

The Daily Mail has confirmed that Boris Johnson will be its new columnist.

The Daily Mail Online account tweeted: “We are delighted to announce Boris Johnson as our new columnist.

“Famed as one of the wittiest and most original writers in the business, Boris’s column will appear in the Daily Mail every Saturday and you’ll be able to get a preview on MailOnline and The Mail+ on Fridays.”

The former prime minister’s new gig has been announced just days after a damning Partygate report.

The UK entered the coronavirus pandemic with “depleted” public services and widening health inequalities, the Covid inquiry has heard.

A report prepared jointly by professors Sir Michael Marmot, an expert in epidemiology and director of the University College London Institute of Health Equity, and Clare Bambra, an expert in public health from Newcastle University, said Government austerity policies impacted the health of the nation in the lead up to the pandemic.

The report was filed as part of the first week of public hearings in the Covid inquiry, which is exploring the UK’s preparedness for a pandemic.

The “expert opinion” report highlighted health inequalities in the UK, including regional differences when it comes to things such as life expectancy and the number of deaths which can be impacted by the quality of healthcare.

Kate Blackwell KC, counsel to the inquiry, read from the report, which said Government austerity policies after 2010 had “an adverse effect on health inequalities”.

The report concluded: “It is plausible that adverse trends in the social determinants of health since 2010 led to the worsening health picture in the decade before the onset of the pandemic.

“In short, the UK entered the pandemic with its public services depleted, health improvements stalled, health inequalities increased and health among the poorest people in a state of decline.”

Downing Street declined to comment on speculation that Boris Johnson is taking a job as a Daily Mail columnist.

Asked whether Rishi Sunak is looking forward to reading his predecessor’s column, a No 10 spokesman said: “That’s not a matter for Government and it’s not a question I’ve asked him specifically.”