Today, Boris Johnson revealed that his planned anti-sleaze crackdown on MPs’ second jobs could only affect 10 people who hold paid positions outside of the Commons.
Following a Tory vote to discredit the proposal, Johnson repelled a Labour plan to limit outside jobs to politicians to just a handful.
The Guardian has just done a fresh analysis of the Johnson proposals. It suggests that there could be two ways to count the number of politicians with consulting jobs who may be trapped by these new “watered-down” plans.
Out of 48 MPs who have consultancy positions, 46 are Tories. Two to five may be classified as ‘parliamentary consultants or political advisors’. These roles could potentially be prohibited.
If the weekly hours were limited to 20 hours, only one MP would be affected. This is Geoffrey Cox, a high-ranking lawyer and ex-allegator general.
Yesterday, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, International Trade Secretary, suggested that it would be fine to work between 10-20 hours per week. However around three-to six MPs might be affected by tighter rules.
The analysis indicates that Owen Paterson (an ex-MP who quit Parliament following being censured after lobbying for a company paying him a high-paying salary) may have not been affected.
He he spent less than five hours a week working for Randox and Lynn’s Country Foods for a combined £112,000 annual income on top of his £82,000 MP’s salary.
Following a Tory vote to discredit the proposal, Johnson repelled a Labour plan to limit outside jobs to politicians to just a handful.
If the weekly hours were limited to 20 hours, only one MP would be affected. This is Geoffrey Cox, a high-ranking lawyer and ex-allegator general.
The analysis indicates that Owen Paterson (an ex-MP who quit Parliament following being censured after lobbying for a company paying him a high-paying salary) may have not been affected.
Labour’s proposal called for an end to ‘any paid work providing services as a parlamentar strategist, advisor or consultant’.
It also contained provisions that required the Commons Standards Committee (CSC) to submit proposals for implementing the ban, and guaranteed time on the House floor to allow MPs to discuss and vote.
Contrary to this, the vaguely phrased Government amendment described the consulting ban as ‘the base of a feasible approach’ and supported the work of Standards Committee to revise the code of conduct for MPs.
Labour’s motion to amend standards was defeated with 282 votes against 231, majority 51. Majority 297 votes voted in favor of the Government’s standard amendment.
According to the division list, four Conservative MPs voted against Labour’s motion: Peter Bone (Wellingborough), Philip Hollobone(Kettering), Nigel Mills (“Amber Valley”) and Dan Poulter (“Central Suffolk and North Ipswich”).
Following the vote Sir Keir starmer from Labour said that broadcasters had heard him speak: “We have a plan to improve politics and raise standards.”
“And you won’t believe what happened after 2 weeks of Tory sleaze & corruption. The Prime Minister whipped his MPs against this plan and frankly, he does not get it.
The vote will mean that MPs won’t be allowed to act as lobbyists or consultants for political pay and that they are obligated to prioritise their constituents.
Chris Bryant (Labour chairman, Committee on Standards), replied to the tweet: “Except that it doesn’t mean this. However, we haven’t yet changed any of the above.
Dominic Raab, Deputy Prime Minister, said that today’s comments could impact on the limits placed upon MPs working outside of Parliament.
According to him, BBC Radio 4’s Today broadcaster said: “You can do it either by earning the money or you could by working the hours. The Committee on Standards was asked by us to compile the information by January.
Boris Johnson’s standards reforms are the reason that many Conservative MPs didn’t vote for them. After the initial vote on Labour’s motion, which took place at 6.50pm and was immediately followed by the vote for the PM’s amendment 20 minutes later. Around 59 Tory MPs abstained.
Sky News reported that he said: “It was an early-ish vote. I believe it was around seven o’clock. A bit later than that.” I am unable to account for each member of Parliament.
Raab was asked whether he accepted unrest among Tory backbenchers. He replied that “you’ll always hear one other disgruntled individual anonymously through the media on any side of debate. But my feeling is that the overwhelming majority MPs want us fix the problem.”
When asked if there was any unrest, he replied: “Not sure how idyllic I would put it, there are always debates amongst MPs but the important thing is that we’re solving the problem.”
Last night, Mr Johnson acknowledged that he had made an egregious mistake in trying to defend Owen Paterson MP’s lobbying sleaze. He was confronted by furious Tory MPs as he tried to defend Owen Paterson at the end of a tiring day for Prime Minister.
Dominic Raab, Deputy Prime Minister, said that today’s comments could impact on the limits placed upon MPs working outside of Parliament.
After a difficult few weeks, Johnson was met by mutinous backbenchers after his attempts to reform the anti-corruption laws of parliament.
He told the 1922 Committee of backbenchers that he crashed his car into a ditch on a Westminster road.
However, MPs were able to express their discontent with the PM’s ‘looked and sound weak’.
This came after another day of trying to quell the flames of the sleaze crise, and Conservatives were furious at his “back of a bag packet” crackdown on outside earnings.
In an effort to stop the chaos, the PM pledged to prohibit politicians from being consultants after Paterson violated standards to represent a company that paid him a six-figure income.
Johnson suggested that MPs be limited in the amount of time they can spend on second jobs. This is a significant shift and could potentially cost dozens of backbenchers substantial sums.
Later, he voted against a Labour motion that would have banned ‘any paid work for the provision of services as a parliamentary strategist or adviser or consultant. This change was defeated by 283 votes to 231, or 51 percent.
However, the MPs approved his plan for changing the rules regarding parliamentary jobs following the abstention of opposition parties from the vote. He was accused of ‘watering down’ efforts to fix the Commons.
A spokesperson for the Government said that while MPs won’t be allowed to act as lobbyists or consultants, and that they will not be paid any money for their work, this vote means that there will be a ban on them from prioritizing constituents.
This dramatic intervention was made to extinguish Labour’s growing concern that the government’s attacks on it were becoming more severe.