This paper argues that Boris Johnson should take the steps to establish and enforce the high standards the public expects of the UK government and to help restore trust in public life.

The UK government’s u-turn in the Owen Paterson (MP) case has yet again raised the question of how standards in public life can be upheld. This paper sets out the Institute for Government’s recommendations – drawn from a recent conference and their wider work on standards in public life – on how the government should...

Repeated controversies over ministerial behaviour and failures in the process of investigating possible breaches of the ministerial code show that the ministerial code, in its current form, is no longer working. This paper offers recommendations on how Boris Johnson should overhaul the ministerial code to better reflect the complexities of modern government and restore public...

This report calls for new rules to extend the prohibition on former cabinet ministers lobbying government, new enforcement powers to ensure ministerial rules are followed, and greater transparency surrounding the outside interests of civil servants.

Boris Johnson is said to be ready to reshuffle his ministerial team in February – this report warns that he should then keep his ministers in place. Excessive ‘churn’ means they never get properly on top of their brief. This has undermined the effectiveness of UK government in recent decades.