Politics RECAP: Boris Johnson to face questions over MPs' second jobs row as sleaze row rumbles on following PMQs grilling
The Prime Minister did not apologise for the Owen Paterson affair but repeated it was a “mistake” to conflate the issue with reforming the standards process more generally.
Sir Keir Starmer questioned if Boris Johnson would back an investigation into contracts given to Randox or “vote for another cover-up”.
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SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said the Prime Minister’s proposals to update the Code of Conduct for MPs are already “half-botched” and do not “even scratch the surface”.
Boris Johnson will face a showdown with his own backbenchers over plans to ban MPs from paid political consultancy work.
The PM is to be questioned by Liaison Committee with a standards debate from 1pm with vote around scheduled for around 7.
Boris Johnson will face MPs during Prime Minister's Questions and will also face the backbench 1922 Committee in a bid to repair relations with his MPs.
The Prime Minister announced that he supported a ban on consultancy ahead of a vote on the issue called by Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday.
The Government effectively took over Labour’s opposition day debate by tabling an amendment with its own proposals.
The move provoked a furious response from Labour who accused ministers of “watering down” their original motion, effectively making it non-binding.
You can follow updates in our live blog.
Politics LIVE: Boris Johnson to face questions over MPs’ second jobs row as sleaze row rumbles on following PMQs grilling
MPs will vote later on drawing up new rules to curb their outside business interests, something which has increased tensions between Mr Johnson and Tory backbenchers.
The Prime Minister acknowledged he had made a “mistake” in his handling of the Owen Paterson case, where Conservative MPs were ordered to block the immediate suspension of the former cabinet minister over lobbying rule breaches.
He said he wanted a new approach based on “two key principles” – that MPs should focus on their job in Parliament and “no-one should exploit their position in order to advance the commercial interests of anybody else”.
We’ll be following the latest from the House of Commons today - and will be offering the latest updates as the day continues.
It has been an eventful day - but here are some of the key points so far
- Boris Johnson was quizzed about the second jobs row at Prime Minister’s Questions. He will later appear before a committee of senior MPs.
- Sir Keir Starmer accused the PM of breaking his promise to “the North” following reports that HS2 would be scrapped.
- SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said the Prime Minister’s proposals to update the Code of Conduct for MPs are already “half-botched” and do not “even scratch the surface”.
- Sir Keir Starmer questioned if Boris Johnson would back an investigation into contracts given to Randox or “vote for another cover-up”.
- Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle repeatedly clashed with Boris Johnson as the Prime Minister attempted to question Sir Keir Starmer about any links with Mishcon de Reya.
The Government has been pressed for more cash to investigate and stabilise coal tips in Wales to prevent “another Aberfan disaster”.
Welsh MPs called on the UK Government to provide more funding to tackle the problem of old coal spoil heaps, after winter Storm Dennis caused one to collapse in the Rhondda valley in South Wales in February 2020.
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner claimed the lack of minutes from the meeting between Randox, former Tory MP Owen Paterson and former minister Lord Bethell was in breach of the ministerial code.
“By admitting that no minutes exist for the Randox lobbying meetings, the Government has admitted that the Government is routinely breaking the ministerial code,” she said.
“When a minister meets an organisation or company, an official must be present to keep a record of that meeting.”
Health minister Gillian Keegan said the Government “were abstaining on the vote today”.
She said: “Ministers have no role in the evaluation of Government contracts, ministers have no role in the procurement process, ministers have no role in the value of these contracts, ministers have no role in the scope of these contracts and ministers have no role in the length of these contracts.
“From start to finish the procurement process is rightly carried out by commercial professionals and I would like to say they are governed by a strict regulatory framework… I can confirm today that no exception was made for Randox.”
She added: “We have behaved in exactly the same way you’d expect from a responsible Government operating in a national crisis… The Government is not intending to vote against this Humble Address, we will review what information we hold in scope and we will define the scope… and we’ll come back to Parliament and we’ll deposit them here in the libraries of the House.”
Intervening, Ms Rayner saying: “Part of the reasons why we brought this motion to the House today was that the process wasn’t followed, actually, and there is questions about the process and how ministers were able to fast track through a VIP lane.”
SNP’s Brendan O’Hara (Argyll and Bute) said “there has to be full transparency”, arguing: “What we’re seeing now is crony capitalism at its worst”.
He said: “There’s a stench of corruption that is engulfing this Government who now stand accused of making certain well-placed individuals fabulously wealthy during this pandemic, not because of their particular skill or acumen in business, but primarily because of their political connections to the Conservative Party.”
The Government sought to clarify that it has not lost the minutes of a meeting between Randox and a health minister, only that it cannot find them at the moment.
On the meeting between the company and former minister Lord Bethell, health minister Gillian Keegan said: “I just want to make it clear what I said: we have been unable to locate a formal note of the meeting. That is what I have been told so far.
“That doesn’t mean there isn’t one. It has been unable to locate one. But of course everything we have will be put in the House of Commons Library.”