Delays approving new jobs put ministers in ‘invidious position’, says ex-whip
Former whip Ruth Edwards said she was facing a choice between missing mortgage payments and breaking the rules thanks to delays at Acoba.
Delays in approving new jobs have left some former ministers forced to choose between missing mortgage payments and breaking the rules, an ex-MP has said.
Former Conservative whip Ruth Edwards said the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) had placed her in “an invidious position” by taking more than two months to sign off on a new job.
She told the PA news agency: “I’m basically being told to choose between not paying my mortgage and breaching Acoba rules, which is not a great choice.”
Former ministers are required to seek advice from Acoba before taking up another job within two years of leaving government, a process intended to prevent them improperly exploiting their knowledge or contacts on Whitehall, or appearing to be rewarded for past favours.
Advice is published online, along with reports of any breaches of these rules.
In Ms Edwards’s case, Acoba published a letter on Wednesday evening saying she had broken the rules after she “prematurely” announced the formation of a consultancy, 10 Years Ahead.
But in correspondence published alongside Acoba’s decision, she said she “had no intention of not following the guidance” but had started “some preparatory work” due to the delay in deciding on her application for advice.
Although the process is supposed to take six weeks, she had still heard nothing two-and-a-half months after submitting her application on January 6.
Ms Edwards is not the only former minister affected by delays at Acoba, understood to be due to short staffing and long waits for information about applicants from government departments.
Sir Marcus Jones, who was deputy chief whip between 2022 and 2024, also received a reprimand from Acoba for setting up his own business before receiving the committee’s advice.
In his own letter to Acoba, he said: “In good faith I waited nearly six weeks and had not received anything more than initial acknowledgement from the secretariat.
“My employment opportunities will become jeopardised, as I am sure you will appreciate, perspective (sic) supporters will not wait indefinitely for a job offer to be accepted.”
In reply, Acoba chairman Lord Eric Pickles noted Sir Marcus’s “difficult personal circumstances”, but added that the rules “do not allow for applicants to decide to proceed to take up a role without first seeking and receiving advice”.
Speaking to PA, Ms Edwards also said she knew of other former ministers who had begun working in secret or called Acoba “in a last-minute panic” seeking approval of their new positions.
She said: “The vast majority of former government ministers want to comply with the rules that have been set for us. The only point I was trying to make is we are being put in a slightly invidious position where we are having to take a very long period of time with no salary.
“We could all name some former ministers who have a large independent personal wealth to their name, but most of us don’t.
“We are ordinary people, we have done ordinary jobs before politics and we are trying to go back into them.”
A spokesperson for Acoba said: “The Ministerial Code makes clear that former ministers must wait for and abide by Acoba’s advice – and a failure to do so is therefore a breach of the rules.
“Acoba has dealt with an unprecedented number of cases since the election. Where there is a delay in receiving the necessary information from the minister’s former department, we will let applicants know.”
