From its title you might expect that the UK’s offence of misconduct in public life would be well suited to bringing to book politicians and other officials who abuse their positions, but the reality is very different, as Spotlight set out in a briefing early in 2025.
Our research, covering convictions dating back to 2014, showed that the offence is used almost exclusively against lower rank police and prison staff, and even in those cases is predominantly used to target inappropriate sexual relationships.
We have been pushing for a new corruption in public office offence to replace the old misconduct in public office – as recommended by the Law Commission back in 2020 for some time. So we brought together leading experts and officials to discuss how a new domestic corruption offence might properly target those who use their public office for private gain.
When the government tabled its Public Office (Accountability) Bill (aka the Hillsborough Bill) in September 2025, Spotlight was pleased to see the thrust of proposals from our roundtable discussion reflected in the creation of a new statutory offence that rewrites the common law offence of misconduct in public office.
But it doesn’t go far enough. We worked with legal experts to review the new Bill to see how it stacked up against recommendations from the Law Commission and the UK’s commitments under international anti-corruption treaties. As the Bill passes through the Commons we will be highlighting crucial gaps which must be addressed if this offence is really going to make sure that those who abuse office face real accountability.
