Starmer’s ethics reforms are nothing more than him saying ‘Trust me, bro – my MPs are all sound’

Watchdog Transparency International (TI) has taken apart Keir Starmer. Labour pledged to, in the words of Angela Rayner, “stamp out the corruption” that has “polluted our democracy”  including an end to the “revolving door” between government roles and business appointments.

Starmer: ‘Trust me bro’

But the ‘reforms’ Starmer announced on 21 July rearrange the furniture and do not address the corrupting influence of a culture where politicians later profit from firms they were supposed to regulate while in government, as TI points out:

Only when there is legal underpinning of both the ministerial code and business appointment rules – including legally enforceable penalties – will we have a resilient and reliable standards regime. Today’s largely organisational changes still rest on the ‘good chaps theory’ of integrity in government.

According to TI, Starmer is essentially claiming that we should simply trust politicians to be “good chaps” who aren’t going to govern with future job prospects at lucrative companies in mind.

But as TI research previously revealed nearly one third of private sector jobs that former ministers and senior officials leaving public office take up have “significant overlap” with their role in government. On the one hand, you can argue that this is the sector they have experience in and government isn’t a job for life. Yet on the other hand, a politician might not properly regulate companies they want to later employ them, even if it’s in the public interest.

Revolving door

One high profile example of the revolving door is where former Tory Chancellor George Osborne delivered austerity and transferred money from the least well off to the already rich. He then landed a one day a week £650,000 per year job at investment fund BlackRock.

The revolving door also appears to have had an impact on the privatisation of the NHS. Former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn and former Tory health secretary Andrew Lansley both took on lucrative roles in companies benefiting from an increase in private healthcare, after delivering such an increase in government.

Yet, Starmer’s ‘ethics overhaul’ doesn’t change any of the business appointment rules, doesn’t enshrine them in law and will only dock severance pay from ministers breaching them. Will the loss of three months’ ministerial salary impact politicians like Osborne who are taking on a £650,000 per year role.

Starmer’s “organisational changes” also do not cap political donations, enabling corporations and individuals to continue to buy politicians.

Featured image via the Canary