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Lobbying watchdog chair failed to publicly declare role on Tory business forum
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A former Conservative cabinet minister who chairs the government’s own lobbying watchdog has been accused of a potential conflict of interest for failing to publicly declare his ongoing involvement in a Tory business lobbying forum.
Eric Pickles, who heads up the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA), did not mention his presidency of the Enterprise Forum in a written submission to a parliamentary committee or in his CV, before becoming chair of the watchdog last year.
The Enterprise Forum, which boasts of its access to government ministers, aims “to improve the quality and flow of information between the business community and the Conservative Party”. Lord Pickles has been the Forum’s president since 2017.
Transparency campaigners say that Pickles’ ongoing involvement in the Enterprise Forum is a potential conflict of interest “that needs to be fully declared and openly managed”.
On Thursday, Pickles told MPs that urgent reform was needed to correct an “anomaly” that allowed conflicts of interests in Westminster. He said that there did not appear to be “any boundaries at all” between civil servants and the private sector.
The government has launched an investigation into David Cameron’s lobbying for collapsed finance firm Greensill Capital.
ACOBA is charged with policing the appointment of former ministers and civil servants to private sector posts and guard against conflicts of interest.
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