Government drops ‘independent’ adviser on protest

Four months after Good Law Project made a formal complaint over Lord Walney’s conflicts of interest, the Home Office has bowed to mounting pressure and sacked its controversial adviser on protest.

Boris Johnson appointed Walney back in 2020 as an “independent” adviser on political violence and disruption. But he has been using this position to argue for clampdowns on groups protesting against arms manufacturers and fossil fuels, at the same time he was paid to work with lobbyists of those industries.

After we submitted a formal complaint to the Home Office about these conflicts of interest in October, more than 17,000 people signed our petition calling on the department to show him the door.

Last week we increased the pressure on the government, sending the Home Office details of revelations from the Byline Times that Walney’s appointment was only supposed to last six months.

More than four years after the disgraced prime minister Boris Johnson appointed him, and more than four months after Good Law Project’s formal complaint, the security minister Dan Jarvis has issued a statement confirming that Walney’s role will be discontinued

Dark money has our democracy in its sights, but we’ll keep fighting to protect hard-won rights to protest.