Decision

Summary of business appointment applications Sir Ivan Rogers

Published 16 July 2018

Sir Ivan Rogers left his position as Permanent Representative to the EU in January 2017.

1. Board Member, MNI Connect Advisory Board

The Committee was asked to consider an application from Sir Ivan Rogers, for advice on taking up an appointment with MNI Connect Advisory Board. MNI Connect is a service provided by MNI that brings together financial market participants in Asia, Europe & North America and policymakers from the world’s major central banks plus other key macroeconomic policymaking agencies.

Sir Ivan told the Committee his responsibilities would include:

• attracting speakers from macroeconomic policymaking and related areas to MNI Connect Roundtable events;
• participating in monthly meeting of the MNI Connect Advisory Board;
• speaking at occasional MNI Connect Roundtables globally; and
• 2-3 days per quarter attending meetings with MNI clients on Brexit issues, as well as assisting MNI generally with its financial journalism.

This role will not involve contact with Government and Sir Ivan has said that he has no intention of taking any lobbying role. It will be a paid position, likely to involve 12 days’ work per year.

The DG for EU Exit at FCO has no reservations about this appointment.

The Committee has found that this appointment cannot reasonably be seen as a reward for decisions made while in office. Sir Ivan had no contact with the organisation in post and had no influence over the Government’s approach to decisions that directly affected it.

The Committee has also considered the risk that this role could provide Sir Ivan’s employer with an unfair advantage. It noted Sir Ivan’s role would not involve lobbying Government and he would not have any involvement in procurement processes.

The Committee concluded that there was little risk the appointment with MNI would confer an unfair advantage on the company. With regard to information he was privy to whilst in office, the Department confirmed that policy on the UK’s exit from the EU has evolved since Sir Ivan’s departure; and said that there is no reason to think that he would hold commercially sensitive information about MNI’s competitors. The Committee also noted that nearly a year has passed since he left office, mitigating any residual risks. Whilst the Committee noted the role would not involve contact with Government, the conditions imposed make clear that any use of his contacts in Whitehall/Government to the benefit of MNI would be inappropriate.

The Foreign Secretary accepted the Committee’s advice that, under the Government’s Business Appointment Rules, Sir Ivan’s appointment with Market News Ltd be subject to the following conditions:

• he should not draw on (disclose or use for the benefit of himself or the organisations to which this advice refers) any privileged information available to him from his time in Crown Service; and

• for two years from his last day in service, he should not become personally involved in lobbying the UK Government on behalf of Market News Ltd or its subsidiaries. Neither should he make use, directly or indirectly, of his contacts in Government to influence policy or secure business on behalf of Market News Ltd or its subsidiaries.

The letter containing the Committee’s advice was sent in January 2018 and the appointment was subsequently taken up.