Labour outrage as MPs vote down Owen Paterson’s 30-day parliament suspension
MPs have taken the unprecedented step of voting against a recommended parliamentary suspension as Tory MP Owen Paterson escapes a 30-day House of Commons ban for now.
Paterson’s case, an accusation of breaching the lobbying rules, will now be reviewed early next year by a panel that will be made up of a majority of Conservative MPs.
The Tory MP was found by parliament’s standards commissioner and Standards Committee to have been guilty of an “egregious” breach of the Westminster lobbying rules as he did not declare his £100,000-a-year role as a paid consultant for two firms.
It is the first time parliament has not voted to uphold a suspension given by the independent House of Commons’ standards commissioner, after the government and backbench Tory MPs teamed up to get Paterson off the hook.
The saga will also see the standards process for MPs dismantled, with critics claiming it will now be far weaker and more partisan.
The move has been described by Gavin Barwell, former Theresa May chief of staff and ex-Tory MP, as one that will do “real damage to reputation of parliament”.
Labour MPs have lined up to decry the government’s manouevres as “grubby” and “shameful”.
Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg said there has long been cross-party concern about the standards process.
“There must be tough and robust checks against lobbying for profit. There must be a proper process to scrutinise, and if necessary discipline, those who do not follow the rules,” he said.
“However it is also my role as Leader of the House to listen to the concerns and thoughts of members across the House, which are now too numerous to ignore.”
Parliamentary commissioner for standards Kathryn Stone ruled last month that Paterson broke lobbying rules during his work for clinical diagnostics firm Randox and manufacturer Lynn’s Country Foods.
He was paid £100,000 a year by the two firms.
Paterson contacted the Food Standards Agency, a regulator, on behalf of these firms at least 10 times and did not declare his lobbying activities, according to Stone.
Westminster’s Standards Committee said Paterson’s “actions were an egregious case of paid advocacy, that he repeatedly used his privileged position to benefit two companies for whom he was a paid consultant, and that this has brought the House into disrepute”.
Paterson, a former shadow cabinet minister, claims he only contacted the Food Standards Agency to warn them about potentially harmful products and that Stone’s investigation was biased.
He also claims that the investigation played a part in his wife’s suicide last year.
MPs were supposed to vote to confirm the suspension today, usually a foregone conclusion, however veteran Tory MP Andrea Leadsom instead attached an amendment that would veto the suspension and re-open the case.
This was approved by 250 votes to 232.
A further motion was also passed by the house, which will see the standards process dismantled and a new committee made with a majority of Tory MPs.
Labour has said the new committee will see the Conservatives “marking their own homework”.
“Today the Tories voted to give a green light to corruption,” deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner said.
“Labour will not be taking any part in this sham process or any corrupt committee. The Prime Minister, Conservative Ministers and MPs have brought shame on our democracy.”
Paterson claims that Stone “admitted making her mind up before speaking to me or any witnesses” and that the investigation was “a biased process and not fair”.
He also says he only approached regulators about concerns of the safety of pork and milk products.
“Last summer, in the midst of the investigation, my wife of 40 years, Rose, took her own life. We will never know definitively what drove her to suicide, but the manner in which this investigation was conducted undoubtedly played a major role,” Paterson said.
“Rose would ask me despairingly every weekend about the progress of the inquiry, convinced that the investigation would go to any lengths to somehow find me in the wrong.”