LONDON, June 27 (Reuters) - Former British prime minister Boris Johnson committed a "clear and unambiguous" breach of rules when he took up a job as a newspaper columnist this month, an ethics body said, calling for reform of a system it said was outdated and ineffective. The committee had already said Johnson had breached the rules by failing to give it proper notice. It went further on Tuesday, calling the breach "unambiguous" and saying it showed the need for reform because current rules only offer guidance and lack clarity in areas such as sanctions. It is up to the government to decide what sanctions, if any, Johnson would face for the breach. In his broader criticism of the existing system, Pickles also said new areas of corruption were not monitored because they weren't envisaged when the rules were created.

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Persons: Boris Johnson, Johnson, Eric Pickles, Rishi Sunak's, Lord Pickles, COVID, Pickles, Sachin Ravikumar, Elizabeth Piper, William James Our Organizations: Daily Mail, Business, Thomson Locations: British