As pictures emerge of Boris wielding a glass of booze, and junior Whitehall staff speak to the BBC about a party culture in Number 10, whistleblowers are more important than ever. Without them, the scandal of Partygate may never have emerged.
But a new Bill to protect whistleblowers has been criticised by some campaigners for potentially opening the door to a US-style corporatisation of whistleblowing.
The bill, which was introduced to the House by Mary Robinson, a Conservative MP and Chair of the Whistleblowing APPG, recommended the UK sets up an independent, US-style Office of the Whistleblower, “to make whistleblowing work properly and safely for everyone”. The bill was not, in the end, taken forward.
Concerns have been raised that the office would be expected to “report back to the Government”, something which campaigners say would undermine independence and sink whistleblowers who want to shine a light on public services and Government misbehaviour.
WhistleBlowersUK, which provides the secretariat for the APPG, told Byline Times that the “independent Office of the Whistleblower will only report trends and serious concerns directly to the Government – not individual cases”.
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