Sir Graham: Prescott did Break Rules

Sir Alistair Graham, the chairman of the independent Committee for Standards in Public Life, believes that Prescott had indeed broken the rules.

Prescott has been under Parliamentary investigation regarding his visit to the ranch of super casino bidder Philip Anschutz. A report on the affair has been submitted by Standards watchdog Sir Philip Mawer, and many speculate that Prescott will be let off with a mild rebuke for failing to declare the visit.

However, Sir Graham said Sir Philip's report is no substitute for an independent inquiry for the reason that the commissioner's remit allowed him to judge only against parliamentary rules, not the ministerial code.

"He hasn't looked at the central allegation, that there was a possible conflict of interest in accepting hospitality from Mr Anschutz, in which, and this is clearly in breach of the ministerial code, you're not supposed in accepting hospitality to put yourself under an obligation," he said.

"In my view, the Prime Minister, as soon as the allegation was raised, should have asked Sir John Bourn to carry out an independent investigation as to whether he had breached the ministerial code in terms of the provisions relating to conflicts of interest."

Prescott's stay at the ranch in summer of 2005 may conflict with section 5.2 of the ministerial code, that states: "No minister or public servant should accept gifts, hospitality or services from anyone which would, or might appear to, place him or her under an obligation."

"The only two people who now think that John Prescott hasn't broken the ministerial code is Mr Prescott himself and Tony Blair. Unless we have an urgent inquiry into Mr Prescott's actions the ministerial code is simply not worth the paper that it's written on," Hugo Swire, the Shadow Culture Minister, said.