‘Can’t be right’ that ministers enjoy looser rules on financial interests, says standards chief

Kathryn Stone urges ‘equality’ in accountability with end to loophole used by Boris Johnson and Priti Patel

Boris Johnson was able to keep value of holiday to Goldmith’s Spanish villa private using ‘ministerial exemption’ (PA)

Current rules allowing government ministers to enjoy less scrutiny of their financial interests than backbench MPs “can’t be right”, parliament’s outgoing standards chief has said.

Appointed commissioner for standards in 2017, Kathryn Stone’s term came to an end in December, after a bruising series of high-profile investigations into ex-Commons speaker John Bercow and former Tory MP Owen Paterson, whose case triggered the collapse of Boris Johnson’s premiership.

In her first interview about the role, Kathryn Stone said that one of her “real frustrations” has been failing to persuade the government to ensure that those in both MP and ministerial roles are held equally accountable.