The government has defeated Labour plans for a parliamentary inquiry into lobbying, amid a row over contacts with finance firm Greensill Capital.
Sir Keir Starmer had wanted a “full” probe with public hearings by a cross-party panel of MPs.
Boris Johnson has insisted the lawyer he appointed this week to carry out a review of the affair will lead a “proper” inquiry.
And he said the Tories had been “consistently tough on lobbying”.
Earlier, Sir Keir said the Greensill row demonstrated “sleaze and cronyism” at the “heart” of the Conservative Party.
The prime minister said Labour’s plan would involve MPs “marking their own homework”.
He ordered Tory MPs to vote against Labour’s proposals, which were defeated by 357 votes to 262.
Sleaze – amid stiff competition, it’s perhaps the dirtiest word in politics.
It’s used as shorthand for behaviour that’s immoral, inappropriate, corrupt or just plain wrong.
And Labour’s choice to attach it to the current government’s actions is no accident.
Sir Keir Starmer is seeking to evoke the scandals of the past which have led to the downfall of Conservative ministers.
In the latter years of John Major’s government in the 1990s accusations of sleaze were so commonplace it was arguably a factor in them losing power.
But while Boris Johnson and his ministers will be keen to avoid accusations of improper behaviour in office, there are dangers for the opposition here too.
Labour governments have seen their fair share of scandal in the past and it’s a brave politician of any colour who claims to be beyond reproach.
Calls to examine lobbying and the relationship between civil servants, politicians and and private firms have intensified in the past week.
These have followed revelations about former Prime Minister David Cameron’s efforts to influence ministers on behalf of finance firm Greensill Capital, which recently collapsed. These involved texting Chancellor Rishi Sunak and contacting other ministers.
On Tuesday it also emerged that Bill Crothers, a former government chief procurement officer, was employed as a part-time adviser to Greensill in 2015 whilst still working as a civil servant. Mr Crothers later went on to become a director at the firm.
Mr Crothers’s part-time position had been “agreed” to by the Cabinet Office – and the ex-official has said he was taken on in a “transparent” way.
But Mr Johnson said it was “not clear” that “boundaries” had been “clearly understood”.
Former Conservative MP Sir Oliver Letwin, who was Cabinet Office minister in Mr Cameron’s government, said he found the arrangement “odd” and “surprising,” adding that it “will need to be looked at”.
What is lobbying?
- It’s another word for trying to persuade the government to change its policies
- It can be done by individuals, companies, organisations and charities who contact ministers, backbench MPs and other politicians
- Some organisations and companies employ professional lobbyists to make their case for them
- Former MPs and civil servants often work as lobbyists
At Prime Minister’s Questions earlier, Sir Keir urged the Conservatives to support his party’s plans for cross-party MPs’ inquiry into lobbying, saying: “The prime minister should be joining us.”
He suggested there was a “revolving door” between the government and the private sector.
Labour has argued the best way to examine the issue is through a parliamentary probe, with witnesses summoned to give evidence in public.
But Mr Johnson instead backed his own review of lobbying, which will be headed by lawyer Nigel Boardman.
He said: “I indeed share the widespread concern about some of the stuff that we’re reading at the moment and I know that the cabinet secretary shares my concern as well.
“I do think it is a good idea in principle that top civil servants should be able to engage with business and should have experience of the private sector.
“When I look at the accounts I’m reading to date, it’s not clear that those boundaries had been properly understood and I’ve asked for a proper independent review of the arrangements that we have to be conducted by Nigel Boardman and he will be reporting in June.”
‘Unbecoming’
But Sir Keir told MPs: “I know the prime minister is launching an inquiry. That inquiry isn’t even looking at the lobbying rules.
“I’m not sure it’s looking at very much at all, because every day there’s further evidence of the sleaze that’s now at the heart of this Conservative government.”
Current appointment rules say former ministers should not lobby government for two years after leaving office – a rule Mr Cameron appears to have followed.
The former prime minister began working as an adviser to Greensill Capital in August 2018, having left Downing Street in July 2016.
Mr Cameron has insisted he did not break any codes of conduct or rules on lobbying, although he has acknowledged that he should have communicated with the government “through only the most formal of channels”.
Conservative MP William Wragg, who chairs a Commons committee currently looking into business appointments, said the Greensill affair was a “tasteless, slap-dash and unbecoming episode for any former prime minister”.
But, speaking ahead of Wednesday’s vote, he suggested Mr Cameron’s involvement was a “red herring” compared with the wider issues – such as why companies were interested in employing “de-skilled” former ministers at all.
The firm’s founder, Lex Greensill, who worked as an unpaid government adviser during Mr Cameron’s early years in Downing Street, has not commented on the row.
Mr Cameron has said the idea of him working at the company “was never raised, or considered by me, until well after I left office”.