Angela Rayner allegedly asked staff in her private office to move her into a Whitehall property by “transporting furniture” according to a formal complaint. She also reportedly asked the officials to assist with “cleaning the accommodation”.
The complaint about the Labour minister’s conduct came from the Tory MP and shadow minister Paul Holmes. He submitted the report to the director of propriety and ethics at the Cabinet Office as well as the permanent secretary at Ms Rayner’s department.
If Ms Rayner is found to have told staff to help with her move, Mr Holmes said it would be a “clear breach” of ministerial code.
His complaint said: “The ministerial code states that ministers are appointed to serve the public and must ensure that no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and their private interests, financial or otherwise.”
It continues: “It also states that holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends.”
It was revealed last month that the Deputy PM had been granted the use of the Admiralty House flat which faces Whitehall. If staff helped her move in, Mr Holmes says that Ms Rayner should be sent a bill for the “estimated costs of civil service time during the move, calculated at private sector rates”.
The property, in a Grade I listed building, was once home to former Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He lived there from 1911-1915, returning to the flat from 1939 to 1940.
The building hosts a number of small meeting rooms, as well as a dining room and a drawing room.
However, this is not the first cabinet minister to be reported for the possible breaching of both ministerial and civil service code in recent weeks.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy was reported by the Conservatives for the “politicial nature” of a speech which was live streamed through official Foreign Office channels despite containing “multiple party-political references”. The Tories complaint stated that the ministerial code “states that ministers must not use government resources for party political resources”.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed was also reported by the Conservatives for a speech which should have been “objective and explanatory, not biased or polemical”. However the Tories believed the language used was not careful or objective” and was a “party-political attack” on the Conservatives as it accuses them of “covering up the true state of public finances”.
