UK lobbying watchdog says anomalies need to be fixed urgently
Last modified on Thu 15 Apr 2021 09.44 EDT A former Conservative cabinet minister who vets ministers and mandarins’ new jobs has called for urgent reform over “anomalies” that allowed conflicts of interest in Westminster and Whitehall. Lord Pickles, the chair of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), told a committee of MPs he was “very worried” after Bill Crothers, a senior civil servant, was allowed to work part-time, then full-time, for the collapsed finance house Greensill Capital without being vetted. “It also highlights a number of anomalies within the syst...