Over a month ago, I wrote to the Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case, to ask him when information about who paid for the expensive refurbishments to Boris Johnson’s Downing Street flat would be made public.

You can see the letter below -

24/3/2021

Dear Mr Case,

Newspaper reports have highlighted that Ministers’ Interests reports have not been made public since July 2020’s publication and that no report was published by the Independent Adviser covering the July 2020 submissions.

Please can you confirm when you expect the Independent Adviser’s report covering July 2020 to be published.

Please confirm also when you expect the December 2020 Ministers’ Interest report and its associated Independent Adviser’s report to be published.

According to the same newspaper reports, the delay in publishing these reports is linked to the departure of Sir Alex Allen.  

Please confirm over what timeframe you expect Sir Alex to be replaced.

Please confirm whether there are alternative arrangements in place to enable a credible temporary Independent Adviser’s report covering July 2020 and December’s two reports to be published, before the appointment of Sir Alex’s successor.

You will be aware that there is particular interest in the Dec 2020 report because in this report the PM may need to declare for the purpose of transparency, the donation from either the Conservative Party or Lord Brownlow (and possibly other donors) covering the refurbishment of no 11.  

Any failure to declare this financial support would create a conflict between the PM’s position and his private interests, leaving him in the debt of a donor or donors unknown to the public.  This would appear to be in clear breach of the Ministerial Code which states ‘Ministers must ensure that no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their Ministerial position and their private interests, financial or otherwise’.  I would be grateful if you could confirm whether my understanding on this point is correct.

I look forward to your response.

So far there’s been no response.

As the lobbying scandal deepens and stories about “VIP lanes” for Conservative donors and supporters to bid for government contracts continue to arise, we really need an answer from the Cabinet Secretary on these important questions.

Fair or not, silence suggests that there’s something to hide.

We will not give up until we have an answer and there’s genuine transparency and accountability in government.

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