THE chair of Whitehall sleaze watchdog has written to the Cabinet Office minister about the lack of diversity on the panel following the appointment of Ewen Fergusson, a university friend of Boris Johnson, media reports have said.
Jonathan Evans, who chairs the Committee on Standards in Public Life, wrote to minister Michael Gove saying some members had “expressed concerns about our lack of visible diversity now as a group”, the Guardian reported.
Fergusson was appointed to the Committee on 1 August 2021 for a five-year term. He was a member with the prime minister of Oxford University’s exclusive male-only Bullingdon Club dining society.
Now, ministers have been urged to publish the scores of candidates who applied for the top role as the eight-person committee became an all-white body with the latest appointment.
Fergusson's appointment sparked controversy, with a former chair of the committee, Sir Alistair Graham, saying it was a “pathetic” attempt to recruit an old friend of the prime minister’s to an independent body.
“There’s been a lot of serious question marks over appointments made during the pandemic,” Sir Alistair told The Independent.
“I think it is unfortunate that this feeling has developed that you have got to have gone to the same school or university or be good mates with a senior minister to be appointed to public."
The primary role of the watchdog is advising the government on ethical standards across public life. The group can conduct inquiries, collect evidence to assess institutions, policies and practices, and make recommendations to the prime minister where appropriate.
“The committee needs to be representative of the people we serve. There would be a vacancy on it from the start of 2022 when the term of Jane Martin comes to an end. We hope this diversity point can be given due weight by the Cabinet Office in the recruitment of future committee members,” Lord Evans said.
Monisha Shah was the only non-white member of the committee – but she stepped down earlier this year.
Angela Rayner, deputy leader of the Labour party, said that “being Boris Johnson’s mate from the Bullingdon Club should disqualify somebody from serving on the committee that is supposed to uphold standards in politics and public life”.
“Out of 173 applicants, there must have been many candidates who were more representative of British society and eminently more qualified than the prime minister’s chum," she told HuffPost UK.
“The government should now publish the interview scores received by each candidate – while protecting their identities – and confirm how many of the 173 applicants were deemed ‘appointable’ so we can see whether there was any bias or favouritism in this appointment.”
The Cabinet Office said: “We have received the letter and will respond in due course.”
The Office had previously responded to criticism of Fergusson’s appointment saying that he “applied through open and fair competition, following the governance code for public appointments”.
