By Andrew MacAskill
LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government on Thursday backtracked on plans to overhaul the system for combating parliamentary corruption after a backlash which included his adviser on ethics calling it a “damaging moment” for democracy.
Faced with unhappiness in his own party and headlines accusing the prime minister and his Conservative administration of “sleaze”, the government said it would think again on plans it had pushed through parliament only the day before.
A group of Conservatives, with Johnson’s support, halted a proposed 30-day suspension from parliament of one of their colleagues, Owen Paterson, who had been found guilty by parliament’s standards watchdog of paid lobbying.
It said Paterson had committed an “egregious case of paid advocacy” by repeatedly using his position to promote two firms, which paid him nearly three times his annual parliamentary salary.
Instead, Conservative lawmakers voted through a proposal to delay the suspension, and instead set up a new committee to review his case. Opposition parties said they would boycott this, accusing the government of corruption.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Leader of the House of Commons who is in charge of organising government business, said although parliament voted to change the system, it could only happen if there was cross party agreement.
“There is a strong feeling that this should not be based on a single case, or applied retrospectively,” he said. “We will bring forward more detailed proposals once there have been cross party discussions.”
Jonathan Evans, chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life and a former head of Britain’s MI5 domestic spy service, earlier said blocking the suspension of a lawmaker was “deeply at odds” with the traditions of British democracy.
“The political system in this country does not belong to one party or even to government,” Evans said in speech to the Institute of Government think tank.
Evans said it was wrong for lawmakers after a short debate to reject an investigation that lasted two years.
“It cannot be right to propose an overhaul of the entire regulatory system in order to postpone or prevent sanctions in a very serious case of paid lobbying,” he said.
There was also criticism from opposition lawmakers of business minister Kwasi Kwarteng, who suggested that the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, who led the investigation into Paterson, should resign.
“I think it’s difficult to see what the future of the commissioner is, given the fact that we’re reviewing the process,” Kwarteng had told Sky News.
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Giles Elgood)
