Angela Rayner “breached the ministerial code” over claims that she asked civil servants to help her move into Admiralty House.
The Deputy Prime Minister reportedly instructed officials in her private office to assist with the move into the grace-and-favour property in Whitehall, which was once used by Winston Churchill.
This allegedly included “transporting furniture” and “cleaning the accommodation”, according to a formal complaint about her conduct.
The complaint, from the Tory MP and shadow minister Paul Holmes, has been submitted to the director of propriety and ethics at the Cabinet Office as well as the permanent secretary at Ms Rayner’s department.
Mr Holmes said that if it is correct that civil servants were told to assist Ms Rayner’s move, this would be a “clear breach” of the ministerial code.
“The ministerial code states that ministers are appointed to serve the public and must ensure that no conflict arises, or could reasonably be perceived to arise, between their public duties and their private interests, financial or otherwise,” he said in his complaint.
“It also states that holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends.”
Mr Holmes said that Ms Rayner should be sent a bill for the “estimated costs of civil service time during the move, calculated at private sector rates”.
Last month it emerged that Ms Rayner had been given the use of the Admiralty House flat which is in a Grade I listed building facing Whitehall.
Churchill lived in Admiralty House from 1911 to 1915 when he was an MP for Dundee. He then returned to the residence from 1939 to 1940 as First Lord of the Admiralty.
The four-storey building opened in 1788 and it was built at the command of Viscount Howe, an Admiral of the Fleet, who had asked for “a few small rooms of my own”.
The building hosts a number of small meeting rooms, as well as a drawing room and a dining room.
John Prescott, who died last year aged 86, was based out of Admiralty House during his own time as deputy prime minister from 1997 to 2007.
He began a two-year affair with his secretary Tracey Temple in 2002 and he admitted to it in 2006 when she went public with details of their liaison.
Ms Temple’s account included stories of trysts at the Admiralty House flat and the official residence of Dorneywood.
Three MPs accused of breaching code
Mr Rayner is one of three Secretaries of States who have been reported by the Conservative party for possible breaches of the ministerial code and the civil service code in recent weeks.
David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, has also been reported for the “political nature” of a speech he gave earlier this month which was streamed live through official Foreign Office channels despite containing “multiple party-political references”.
The Tories pointed out in a complaint to the Cabinet Office that the ministerial code “states that ministers must not use government resources for party political resources”.
The complaint says: “This speech was intentionally drafted to be party-political, and the Foreign Secretary knowingly, in advance, decided to use the occasion to make party political remarks. The fact that this is an intentional breach of the code is significant.”
Meanwhile, Steve Reed, the Environment Secretary, has been reported to the permanent secretary of his own department for a potential breach of the civil service code.
The complaint says that under the civil service code, government communications should be “objective and explanatory, not biased or polemical” and should not be party political.
The Tories say the language in this speech is “not careful or objective” and amounts to a “party political attack” on the Conservatives as it accuses them of “covering up the true state of public finances”.
After receiving the complaint, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said that an incorrect version of Mr Reed’s speech had been “uploaded in error” on to the government website and this has now been amended.
The Cabinet Office has been contacted for comment.
