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Why did J.J.C. Smart criticize rule consequentialism as rule-worship?

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Jeremy Bentham: auto-icon — Utilitarianism English philosopher and economist Jeremy Bentham's preserved skeleton in his own clothes and surmounted by a wax head, at University College London.

The Australian philosopher J.J.C. Smart criticized rule-consequentialism as "rule-worship" because he believed that the position fundamentally contradicts the core essence of utilitarianism.12

Smart argued that if a moral system requires an individual to follow a rule even when it is clear that breaking that rule would produce better consequences, it is no longer truly consequentialist. For Smart, the moral value of an action is determined solely by its actual consequences; therefore, to prioritize adherence to a rule over the maximization of the good is to treat the rule as having an independent status that it does not deserve.12

While Smart acknowledged that individuals might use "rules of thumb" for practical guidance when time or circumstances make precise calculations difficult, he maintained that these rules have no intrinsic authority. If an action contrary to a rule of thumb would result in a better outcome, Smart argued that one should act against the rule, even if doing so conflicts with conventional morality.12