Ethics watchdog says PM has failed to allay fears he is above the rules

Boris Johnson has chosen not to give his independent ethics adviser, Lord Geidt, the power to launch his own inquiries. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

A powerful standards watchdog has accused Boris Johnson of failing to allay fears that he and his ministers consider themselves above the rules, as his support continued to ebb away in the wake of the Partygate scandal.

Jonathan Evans, the chair of the committee on standards in public life, criticised a planned overhaul to the way the ministerial code is policed, saying they undermined the role of Boris Johnson’s ethics adviser, Christopher Geidt.