The Ministerial Code is a document setting out “rules” and standards for government ministers in the United Kingdom. Separate codes exist for ministers of the Scottish Government, the Northern Ireland Executive (based on the St Andrews Agreement) and the Welsh Government.
Codes of conduct for ministers are amongst a range of initiatives designed to respond to perceptions of the erosion of ministerial accountability. A range of scandals, most notably MP’s Expenses culminated in the unforgettable tag “The Rotten Parliament” has driven political will to preserve public trust in the institutions of cabinet government which, to date, has been largely unsuccessful.
Written guidance for British cabinet ministers began as the document Questions of Procedure for Ministers (QPM), which was a confidential document prepared by the Cabinet Office to assist ministers, and dates to at least the 1980s.
The earliest published form of the Code was when the QPM was released by the Major Government in 1992, and further editions have been adapted based on suggestions and recommendations from the Committee on Standards in Public Life. The first edition to be entitled ‘Ministerial Code’ was Tony Blair’s 1997 set of rules. The most recent version was released in May 2010 (it being a convention for each new Prime Minister to issue their own). The Code is currently administered by the Propriety and Ethics group within the Cabinet Office.
It is ironic that Tony Blair’s edition was renamed the ‘Ministerial Code’ given recent revelations of his conduct with the invasion of Iraq, irrespective of the scope of that code.
It appears though that the latest 2015 version released last week has been adjusted, as is the prerogative of the PM, to fit his agenda irrespective of ethics or indeed in this case, for the rule of law.