FlyTheNest

On Monday Boris Johnson bowed to pressure to order an independent inquiry. The Guardian understands No 10 has ordered that inquiry to examine the approval process that meant Crothers was given leave to advise the company while still an impartial civil servant. Sources said the approval was given by the former Cabinet Office permanent secretary John Manzoni.

In February 2014, Manzoni joined the British civil service as the chief executive of the Major Projects Authority, a role under the remit of the Cabinet Office.[13] His former BP boss John Browne, who had also left BP in 2007 sat on Manzoni's appointment panel but did not chair it.[14]

Whilst in this role, Manzoni also served as a director for the brewing and beverage company SABMiller, chair of the energy company Leyshon Energy and an adviser to the venture capital company Adamant Ventures.[15

Tony Blair’s old Delivery Unit at 10 Downing Street is to be revived by Boris Johnson to keep his flagship “levelling up” agenda on track.

The Prime Minister has been meeting the unit’s founder Sir Michael Barber, who was dubbed the Delivery Tsar during the New Labour era, to get advice on how to ensure vital objectives are progressed through Whitehall.

Mr Johnson’s plan to revive the unit is revealed exclusively in tonight’s Evening Standard by award-winning new columnist Tom Newton-Dunn, who writes: “So impressed is this PM by Barber, I learn that Johnson too has decided to reform the No10 Delivery Unit that was closed down by the Coalition Government in 2010.

Details, details, details.

Every two months or so, the PM held a ‘stocktake’ with Secretaries of State and priorities were explored down to an incredible level of detail. Why wasn’t truancy improving? Where exactly in the stats were the ‘stuck’ schools; what did they have in common; what was the mechanism the DfES was trying to do to move them and what analysis had been done as to why that was or wasn’t working? This is the single biggest thing that worries me about a Johnson Delivery Unit. The PM has to sweat the details, and really care about them — not just hand it off the PMDU to scrutinise.

Telegraph Business
@telebusiness
EXCLUSIVE: Former Commissioner of the Met Police Lord Hogan-Howe was a paid adviser to collapsed lender Greensill Capital at the same time as working at the heart of Whitehall.

@BenGartside
and
@tomelleryrees
report https://telegraph.co.uk/business/2021/0 ... l-scandal/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;