[20] The Committee was initially established in October 1994 by the Prime Minister, John Major, in response to concerns that the conduct of some politicians was unethical - for example, during the cash-for-questions affair.
The committee's new remit included "To review issues in relation to the funding of political parties, and to make recommendations as to any changes in present arrangements.
In its interim and final reports of July and November 2021 it noted that transparency relating to lobbying was "poor", and it recommended tightening up the rules governing the conduct of ministers and senior civil servants.
[29] A survey conducted by the committee found that the COVID-19 pandemic had exposed poor behaviour by politicians, including breaches of lockdown rules and the awarding of public procurement contracts to ministers' friends.
Survey participants were said to be "visibly angry as they recounted the strict pandemic rules they had to follow, which they believed were disregarded by various politicians who subsequently faced few or no consequences.
"[31] The appointment of Ewen Fergusson was criticised as "cronyism" by the Labour Party as he had been a member of the Bullingdon Club at Oxford at the same time as Boris Johnson.