From Lynskey to Nolan: The Corruption of British Politics and Public Service?

Abstract

organization. The wider, academic use of 'corruption', used as shorthand to describe any use of official position, resources or facilities for personal benefit, or in milder form possible conflict of interest between public position and private benefit, is dealt with in part by legislation, by common law (which includes the offence of misconduct in public office) and by internal regulations. The more general question of what is now termed 'the ethical environment' the mix of law, regulations, culture, attitudes and traditions, procedures, and controls that governs the behaviour of those in public life is usually described by the general phrase 'standards of conduct'. The increasing concern about what is seen as a decline especially on the part of Members of Parliament in personal behaviour or conduct during the late 1980s and the early 1990s prompted sufficient criticism to persuade the Conservative government to establish in 1994 the Nolan Committee to review the whole question of corruption (in the wider academic meaning of the term) and standards of conduct in public life. However, to comprehend the concern and to assess the first report of the committee (published in May 1995), it is important to understand the development of standards of conduct, and previous official reactions to concern, as well as the impact of Conservative governments' reforms to the public sector since 1979.