Britain’s ruling Conservative Party has been accused of corruption by opposition parties as Tory lawmakers today voted in favor of suspending a colleague who was found to have broken lobbying rules by a majority in parliament. the investigation procedure against Members.
Parliament’s Standards Oversight Committee had ruled that Conservative MP Owen Patterson had committed a “blatant paid promotion” case, repeatedly using his position to promote two companies, which together paid him almost three times his annual parliamentary salary.
The committee had recommended the suspension of his parliamentary capacity for 30 days.
But when parliament was asked to approve the suspension, a group of Conservatives, backed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, proposed postponing the suspension and instead set up a new committee to reconsider its case and the wider inquiry into weight of deputies.
The proposal was approved by 250 votes to 232 against, despite the anger of opposition parties that the government amended the rules because it did not like the result, a move they said undermined public confidence in Parliament.
Voices such as “shame” were heard from the seats of the opposition MPs during the reading of the result of the vote. There was also unrest among some in government seats. Of the 361 Conservative MPs, more than 100 voted against the proposal or abstained.
“This is corruption,” Labor Vice President Angela Reiner said on Twitter. “Owen Patterson was found guilty of violating the rules by an independent commission. He took money from a private company and then put pressure on ministers on behalf of the companies. “
The government, which the media reported had told its lawmakers to support the proposal, said the proposal was about improving the process.
“The paid promotion in this House (of Communities) is wrong,” Johnson told Parliament, who himself voted in favor of the proposal to review the process.
Patterson, who says the stress of the investigation played a large role in his wife’s suicide last year, disputed the commission’s findings and said witnesses who came forward to support him did not testify.
Conservative MP Peter Botomley, with the longest tenure in the current House of Commons, said he was opposed to the review of the process and stressed that it should have been done separately from the decision to suspend Patterson.
“We have chosen the system we are using now. If we want to change that, we have to do it the right way. “I do not consider this appropriate,” he said.
The Standards Review Committee consists of seven MPs from several parties, including four Conservatives, as well as seven independent members. The new committee will have a majority of Conservatives and a former Conservative minister will lead it.
Opposition parties have stated they will not run in the by-elections. Labor MP Chris Bryant, chairman of the Standards Monitoring Committee, said the retroactive amendment of the rules was immoral.
“If citizens believe that we are deciding for our own benefit and interest, our reputation will be tarnished individually and collectively,” he said.
.
