Decision

Advice letter: David Johnston, Chief Executive, The Lord Mayor's Appeal

Updated 10 March 2026

1. BUSINESS APPOINTMENT APPLICATION: David Johnston, former Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing), Department for Education – Paid appointment as Chief Executive, The Lord Mayor’s Appeal 

Thank you for your application, under the Government’s Business Appointment Rules for Former Ministers (the Rules), for my advice on joining The Lord Mayor’s Appeal as Chief Executive. 

The purpose of the Rules, as you will be aware, is to protect the integrity of government and to avoid any suspicion that those who have served in government might profit improperly from that experience or that an employer might gain unfair advantage through privileged access to government. To achieve these aims, I designate conditions that former ministers must follow. 

The material information and my consideration are set out in the annex. In light of this, I consider the following conditions to be appropriate, recognising that it is your responsibility to ensure that these are demonstrably applied in practice: 

• Privileged information condition – You should not draw on (disclose or use for the benefit of yourself or The Lord Mayor’s Appeal, including its related parties) any privileged information available to you from your time in ministerial office. This is an ongoing duty irrespective of the time elapsed since you left office.
• Lobbying condition – For two years from your last day in office, you should not become personally involved in lobbying the UK Government or its arm’s length bodies on behalf of The Lord Mayor’s Appeal (including its related parties); nor should you make use, directly or indirectly, of your contacts in the government and/or ministerial office to influence policy, secure business/funding or otherwise unfairly advantage The Lord Mayor’s Appeal (including its related parties). 
• Contracts and bids condition – For two years from your last day in office, you should not undertake any work with The Lord Mayor’s Appeal (including its related parties) that involves providing advice on the terms of, or with regard to the subject matter of a bid with, or contract relating directly to the work of, the UK Government or its arm’s length bodies.
• Business development restriction – For two years from your last day in office, you should not become personally involved in lobbying contacts you acquired during your time in office in other governments and organisations for the purpose of securing business for The Lord Mayor’s Appeal (including its related parties). 

I would be grateful if you would note the following points:

• My advice is not an endorsement of the appointment.
• The advice relates solely to your previous role in government; it is separate from rules governing the registration of consultant lobbyists, from the Code of Conduct and Rules of the House of Commons and from the House of Lords Code of Conduct. It is your personal responsibility to understand any other rules and regulations you may be subject to in parallel with my advice. 
• By ‘privileged information’, I mean official information to which you had access as a consequence of holding office and which is not publicly available. You are also reminded that you may be subject to other duties of confidentiality, whether under the Official Secrets Act, the Ministerial Code or otherwise.
• By ‘related parties’, I mean any parent companies, subsidiaries, clients and/or other partners as may be relevant
• As set out in the Rules, the lobbying restriction means that former ministers ‘should not engage in communication with government (ministers, civil servants, including special advisers, and other relevant officials/public office holders) – wherever it takes place – with a view to influencing a government decision, policy or contract award/grant in relation to their own interests or the interests of the organisation by which they are employed, or to whom they are contracted or with which they hold office’.

As soon as you take up the appointment, or if it is announced that you will do so, you are obliged under the Rules to inform my secretariat who will then publish this letter. You must also inform us if you propose to extend or otherwise change the nature of your role as, depending on the circumstances, it may be necessary for you to make a fresh application.

Yours sincerely,

Sir Laurie Magnus CBE

Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards

2. Annex – Material information and consideration of the risks 

2.1 The role

You wish to take up a paid, full-time role as Chief Executive at The Lord Mayor’s Appeal (TLMA), a registered charity that supports and fundraises for selected partnership charities. The role involves strategic leadership and transformation; programme design and delivery; governance and operational oversight; fundraising and income generation; and stakeholder engagement, including building external relationships to increase support for TLMA.

You confirmed that you will have no contact with government in this role. 

2.2 Dealings in office

You said that, as a minister, you neither met with TLMA, nor made any policy, regulatory or commercial decisions specific to the charity. You stated that you had no access to information that could unfairly advantage the charity.  

2.3 Departmental assessment

The Department for Education (DfE) confirmed the details you provided in your application, including that you had no access to information that could offer an unfair advantage and that you made no decisions specific to the charity. DfE added that, whilst in office, you met with one of the TLMA’s Charity Partners, West Ham United Foundation, at an event to mark its work and Care Leavers’ Week. The department had no concerns and recommended the standard conditions.

2.4 My consideration of the risks 

You made no policy, regulatory or commercial decisions specific to TLMA and DfE has no concerns over your access to privileged information – this limits the risks.

You have confirmed that you will not have contact with government in this role. I therefore consider the risks of being perceived as offering unfair access to be low and appropriately mitigated by the standard lobbying and contracts and bids conditions.    Your proposed role includes building external relationships to increase support for the TLMA. You will likely have a wide network from before you entered government. However, you will also have contacts acquired as a result of your ministerial role and there is a risk that you could be seen to advantage TLMA unfairly were you to draw on such contacts to secure support on TLMA’s behalf. I have therefore applied a restriction that prevents you from lobbying any contacts acquired solely from your time in office for the purpose of securing support, or any other form of business, for TLMA.