ABSTRACT
The Nolan Committee endorsed the view that the ‘public is entitled to expect very high standards of behaviour from ministers, as they have profound influence over the daily lives of us all’.33 The Committee distinguished between the need for clear enforceable rules regulating financial conduct and those regulating sexual conduct. In respect of the latter, the Committee, whilst recognising that sexual improprieties may on occasion be relevant to the performance of a minister’s public duties, took the view that it was not possible to lay down hard and fast rules to regulate such private conduct.
