Johnson breached rules designed to stop abuse of contacts made in public office

Boris Johnson breached rules designed to stop the abuse of contacts and access made in public office, an ethics watchdog has found.

- Henry Dyer, Harry Davies

The findings of the body tasked with policing post-ministerial careers comes weeks after revelations about Johnson's conduct. The Boris files, a cache of documents from the former prime minister's private office seen by the Guardian, suggested he repeatedly broke rules forbidding him from exploiting contacts made in office for private gain.

Leaked documents suggested Johnson secretly lobbied the UAE for a billion-dollar private venture, amid plans to use an influential contact he had repeatedly hosted in No 10, and used senior contacts in the Saudi Arabian government he had met while prime minister to pitch the services of a consultancy firm.

After the Guardian's stories were published the Whitehall watchdog, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba), wrote to Johnson asking him to explain what he had done for the companies.