Tories rip anti-sleaze rule to save corrupt MP

Suspension of Owen Paterson halted as MPs vote to review the system. Boris Johnson wants the independent system of combating sleaze in Parliament yesterday as he threw the government’s weight behind protecting Tory MP who was found to have repeatedly breached lobbying rules. This MP took £ 500, 000 from firms he lobbied for breaching sleaze rules. Yet Commons vote yesterday spared him.

The Mirror’s lead  “ PM’s flying shame” after Boris Johnson returned to London from COP26 climate summit in Glasgow on a private jet to have dinner with a friend, “after telling world leaders to crack down on CO2 emissions”, comparing to an EM Foster’s “Animal Farm”, “  In Democracy, All people are equal, but some are more equal than others”.

Owen Paterson watches MPs debating the 30-day suspension handed to him by the Parliamentary commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone, to have repeatedly lobbied ministers and officials on behalf of two companies – medical firm Randox and meat processor Lynn’s Country Foods, which paid him more than £100, 000 a year, and after he was found to have broken the lobbying rules. Boris Johnson is accused of presiding over a “culture debate’ after refusing to support the punishment imposed by House of Commons Standards Commissioner. The measure passed by 250 votes by 232 amid cries of shame from opposition MPs.

Six of the supporters of amendment and Owen Paterson  forming “the League of  rule Breachers” are also guilty of breaking rules by the standards commissioner in the past year. Ex-party leader Iain Duncan Smith repeatedly missed a deadline to reveal his earnings writing press articles. Karl McCartney failed to reveal he was working for a company run by his brother. Brexit Guru Mark Francois used parliament letterheads to write to the EU Veteran Sir Bob Neill, failed to declare a financial interest in a planning application for a football stadium in his constituency. Crispin Blunt withheld a report of the parliamentary group for LGBT rights. Richard Draz, Dorset’s largest landowner, often missed deadlines to register parts of his property empire.