Liz Truss suggests she won’t appoint an ethics adviser if she becomes PM – after two quit under Boris Johnson – as Foreign Secretary insists ‘you can’t outsource ethics’
- Liz Truss suggests she won’t appoint a new ethics adviser if she becomes PM
- Foreign Secretary tells Tory members: ‘You can’t outsource ethics to an adviser’
- Lord Geidt was second adviser to quit the role under Boris Johnson in June
- Rishi Sunak insists he would appoint a replacement if he wins Tory leader race
Liz Truss tonight suggested she would not appoint a new ethics adviser if she replaces Boris Johnson as prime minister.
The Foreign Secretary, who is widely expected to win the Tory leadership contest, insisted ‘you cannot outsource ethics to an adviser’ as she spoke to Conservative members in Birmingham.
There is currently no Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests after Lord Geidt dramatically quit the role in June.
After clashing with Mr Johnson over Partygate, the former aide to the Queen also blasted the PM for his ‘openness’ to breaching international law.
He was the second ethics adviser to resign under Mr Johnson’s premiership.
Sir Alex Allan previously quit the role in 2020 after the PM overruled his finding that Home Secretary Priti Patel had bullied staff.
Prior to his own resignation as PM, Mr Johnson had been contemplating how to replace Lord Geidt.
But, at the latest Tory hustings event, Ms Truss tonight raised the prospect of there being no independent adviser at the heart of Government should she take office next month.
She claimed there would be a ‘fundamental problem’ if a PM didn’t know ‘the difference between right and wrong’ themselves.
Elsewhere at tonight’s hustings:
- Ms Truss signalled she would offer extra support to those on ‘fixed incomes’ during the cost-of-living crisis;
- The Foreign Secretary promised to divert the additional £12billion a year in health funding away from the NHS and into social care;
- She acknowledged there is ‘a serious problem’ with gun crime, knife crime and gangs in Britain;
- Ms Truss vowed to allow tenants to use good rental histories to become homeowners;
- She defended cuts she made to the Environment Agency amid the current scandal over sewage being pumped into beaches;
- Mr Sunak refused to say whether or not he would vote for Ms Truss’s tax cuts in the House of Commons if she becomes PM;
- The ex-chancellor repeated his claim that millions face ‘destitution’ if Ms Truss enters No10 and does not offer direct support for struggling households;
- He suggested he could find a ‘negotiated solution’ to the Brexit row over Northern Ireland with the EU.
Liz Truss insisted ‘you cannot outsource ethics to an adviser’ as she spoke to Conservative members in Birmingham tonight
Her leadership rival Rishi Sunak promised to ‘run a Government where things are conducted seriously, where they’re conducted competently’
There is currently no Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests after Lord Geidt dramatically quit the role in June
The Foreign Secretary declined to directly answer when asked whether she would appoint an ethics adviser.
‘I would put in place, if I was elected as prime minister, a strong Chief Whip,’ Ms Truss said.
‘I would return them to Number 12 Downing Street so they are at the heart of Government and making sure there is zero tolerance of misbehaviour.’
Pressed again on whether she would appoint an ethics adviser, the Foreign Secretary added: ‘I do think one of the problems we have got in this country in the way we approach things is we have numerous advisers and independent bodies, and rules and regulations.
‘For me it’s about understanding the difference between right and wrong.
‘I am somebody who has always acted with integrity, I have always been clear about what I will do, I have followed through on my promises and been honest about the situation.
‘That is what I would do as prime minister. I don’t think you can outsource ethics.’
Ms Truss clarified that she was ‘not necessarily saying’ that she wouldn’t appoint a new ethics adviser.
She added: ‘What I am saying is the leadership themselves, the PM themselves needs to take responsibility.
‘You cannot outsource ethics to an adviser, we need ethics running through the Government.
‘The culture of organisations starts at the top and that’s what’s important to me.
‘And, of course, I would ensure the correct apparatus is in place so that people are able to whistleblow if there are problems.
‘If a leader is saying they don’t know the difference between right and wrong and they need to outsource it to an ethics adviser, I think that’s a fundamental problem.’
Ms Truss’s rival for the Tory leadership, ex-chancellor Rishi Sunak, has consistently promised to appoint a new ethics adviser should he become PM.
He told tonight’s hustings: ‘I would make sure they would have the powers and responsibilities to hold people to account.
‘Obviously it gets set by the leader and I would set an example.’
Mr Sunak pitched himself as the candidate who would appeal to those swing voters the Tories need to win the next election, following the many scandals that dogged Mr Johnson’s premiership.
‘I’m going to run a Government where things are conducted seriously, where they’re conducted competently,’ he added.
‘With decency and integrity at the heart of everything that we do. That’s the change that I’m going to bring, that’s the PM I’m going to be.
‘And that’s how we’re going to restore standards and win the next election.’
Ms Truss met with Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi, one of her allies, ahead of the hustings event at the NEC in Birmingham
Mr Zahawi has been one of Ms Truss’s staunchest supporters during the Tory leadership contest
Mr Sunak met with a group of his supporters as he arrived at the hustings venue tonight
The ex-chancellor is widely viewed to be trailing Ms Truss in the Tory leadership contest and has admitted himself he is the ‘underdog’
Tonight’s event at the NEC in Birmingham were the tenth of 12 official hustings for Tory members across the UK, as they decide whether to elect Ms Truss or Mr Sunak as their next party leader.
The winning candidate will be announced on 5th September, with the victor set to be formally appointed as Mr Johnson’s replacement as PM the following day.
Outside the hustings venue tonight, Conservative Party members queuing to get into the event were met by a group of around 40 protestors who were chanting ‘Tory scum – out of Brum’.
Some of the demonstrators, marshalled back behind barriers by police officers, were carrying Socialist Worker-branded placards.
Their slogans including ‘Kick the Tories Out, Nurses not Nukes’ and another which read ‘Truss Neither of Them’.
A number of Tory hustings events this summer have attracted protests.
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