Watchdog finds Boris Johnson guilty of a ‘clear and unambiguous’ rule breach; what did the former PM do?

I am sure Boris Johnson will not be looking to throw a celebration any time soon as he is still clearing up the mess after leaving both the Conservative Party as an MP and the Partygate scandal report in his wake.

Part of the mess Boris is tasked with tidying up involves watchdog Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) as they found the former prime minister to be guilty of committing a ‘clear and unambiguous’ breach of the rules on post-ministerial jobs.

The 59-year-old initially announced he was standing down as an MP on 10 June before formally resigning on 12 June. The move came after he received an advanced copy of the damning partygate scandal report which found he had misled parliament over the party he threw in Downing Street during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Shortly after the privileges committee released the full report, rumours started circulating that Boris would be writing a column for the Daily Mail as his post-ministerial job.

These rumours were confirmed not only when the newspaper confirmed their new columnist on Twitter but also when Boris himself posted a video about his new role, allegedly only 30 minutes after he wrote to Acoba on advice for his next step.

In the letter to Acoba, Boris said that he had written his first piece but had not signed a contract nor been paid. Mr Johnson added: “If you have any objection to my signing a contract in the next few weeks perhaps you could let me know. I would appreciate an urgent reply."

The rule that Boris ‘clearly and unambiguously’ breached states that former ministers should neither accept or announce a job before receiving advice from Acoba for two years after leaving their ministerial position.

In response to Boris’ breach of the rules, the chair of Acoba and former Conservative MP Lord Pickles stated that the guidance was ‘out of date’ as the committee could no longer rely on ministers to observe ‘the letter and spirit of the rules.’

At time of writing, Boris has written two articles for the publication including a piece about the Titan submersible and a weight-loss drug.