The prime minister’s attempt to avoid genuinely independent scrutiny is shameful

Editorial: Boris Johnson has been accused of trying to rewrite the rules to save his skin

Johnson’s standards are again under intense questioning (AFP/Getty)

No, Boris Johnson is not trying to rig the rules to save his skin. But his attempt to avoid genuinely independent scrutiny of ministerial standards is pitiful and wrong. He has rewritten the ministerial code because he promised Lord Geidt, the adviser on ministerial standards, that he would have more powers.

This was after an earlier frisson of embarrassment, over the prime minister’s attempt, eventually abandoned, to find Conservative donors to pay for the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat in secret. At the time, Mr Johnson said that he would give Lord Geidt more staff and the powers to do his job properly.

Unfortunately for the prime minister, the wheels of bureaucracy have turned slowly and come up with a new version of the ministerial code at precisely the time when Mr Johnson’s standards of honesty, integrity and truthfulness are again under intense questioning. It is hardly surprising that some people jumped to the conclusion that the new wording was designed to protect the prime minister from the imminent investigation by the committee of privileges into whether he “knowingly misled” parliament over lockdown parties.