Rishi Sunak wrong to 'clean the slate' on Braverman's breach of standards, report says

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Suella Braverman's return to the post of Home Secretary just six days after her resignation over leaking secret documents has set a "dangerous precedent" that is undermining trust in the integrity of government, an all-party parliament report has found.

Rishi Sunak should not have been able to "clean the slate clean" of a breach of ministerial standards that deserved a "meaningful" period of absence, said the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs. (PACAC).

The committee said the new ethics counselor the prime minister has promised to appoint should not be prevented from investigating Ms. Braverman's actions and recommending further sanctions.

He slammed as "unsatisfactory" Mr Sunak's stance that the new adviser cannot investigate historic abuses that occurred under previous prime ministers.

The decision would relate undermining the adviser's independence, questioning the power to initiate speedy inquiries given to Lord Geidt as a condition of him taking up the post under Boris Johnson, the committee said.

And that would mean it would be impossible to complete the investigation into alleged racist remarks towards Minister Nus Ghani, who was suspended after Lord Geidt became the second of Johnson's ethics advisers to resign in June.

< p>In the absence of a replacement for Geidt named nearly six months after his resignation, the committee called for legislation to make it a duty for the Prime Minister to appoint an ethics adviser and confirm the independence of the official to launch investigations, including into historical allegations.

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And they called for the creation of legal sanctions against ministers and senior civil servants who break the rules by exploiting Whitehall's 'revolving door' to lucrative private sector jobs.

The report also called for more clarity from the government on what penalties ministers can expect for different breaches of the ministerial code of conduct, after Mr Johnson controversially ended the covenant that all transgressions should lead to resignation.

“While the introduction of graduated sanctions into the ministerial code is to be effective, it cannot be used as a means of avoiding sanc serious offenses,” the committee said.

Without a clear explanation of the severity of the various offenses would be punished, “the suspicion is that the only...