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TORY MPS HAVE voted against the immediate parliamentary suspension of former Cabinet minister Owen Paterson over an “egregious” breach of lobbying rules – and instead supported plans to overhaul the Commons’ disciplinary process.
In an unprecedented move, MPs voted not to back the cross-party Standards Committee’s call for a six-week ban from parliament for Paterson, after it found he repeatedly lobbied ministers and officials for two companies paying him more than £100,000 per year.
MPs backed an amendment calling for a review of his case after Conservatives were ordered to support the bid and Boris Johnson questioned whether the investigation into Paterson was fair.
Paterson said the move would allow him to clear his name after “two years of hell”, but anti-corruption campaigners, unions, political observers and Opposition MPs condemned the decision, with the Tories accused of “wallowing in sleaze”.
Paterson, MP for North Shropshire, could have faced a possible by-election if the suspension had been approved.
He said: “All I have ever asked is to have the opportunity to make my case through a fair process.
The decision today in Parliament means that I will now have that opportunity.
The vote
Boris Johnson had placed Tories under a three-line whip to support the amendment tabled by former Commons leader Andrea Leadsom.
There were shouts of “shame” and “what have you done to this place” from Opposition MPs as the House voted by a narrow majority of 18 to approve the amendment.
The division list showed 13 Tories voted against the Leadsom amendment, while no vote was recorded by 98 others.
Here is my explanation of my amendment in today's debate of the Standards Committee Report ⬇️https://t.co/dfMGzF4fvS
— Andrea Leadsom MP (@andrealeadsom) November 3, 2021
Some 246 Conservatives were listed among the 250 MPs who backed the motion, as was Rob Roberts, who lost the Tory whip after he was found to have sexually harassed a member of staff.
Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner accused the Tories of being “rotten to the core”.
As well as reviewing Paterson’s case, the amendment calls for a Conservative-majority committee led by former culture secretary John Whittingdale to examine the standards system.
The committee was intended to include four other Tory MPs, three Labour MPs and one SNP MP.
But Rayner said Labour will “not be taking any part in this sham process or any corrupt committee”, with the SNP and Lib Dems also saying they would boycott it.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, writing in the Guardian, said “the rot starts at the top” and “we have a Prime Minister whose name is synonymous with sleaze, dodgy deals and hypocrisy”.
I've really enjoyed being a PPS since Feb '20. First in DfE for Ministers and then SoS and recently for the brilliant Michael Gove in DLUHC. I abstained on the #LeadsomAmendment today aware that my job was at risk, but it was a matter of principle for me. 1/
— Angela Richardson MP (@AJRichardsonMP) November 3, 2021
The report
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone had recommended a ban from the Commons of 30 sitting days for Paterson in a report approved by the Standards Committee.
Stone’s investigation found he repeatedly lobbied on behalf of two companies for which he was acting as a paid consultant – Randox and Lynn’s Country Foods.
Paterson claimed the investigation was unfairly conducted and argued the manner in which it was carried out had played a “major role” in his wife Rose’s suicide last year.
The Prime Minister, who voted for the amendment, said paid lobbying in the Commons “is wrong” and those “who are found guilty of that should apologise and pay the necessary penalties”.
“But that is not the issue in this case or this vote that is before us,” he added to MPs.
The issue in this case, which involved a serious family tragedy, is whether a member of this House had a fair opportunity to make representations in this case and whether, as a matter of natural justice, our procedures in this House allow for proper appeal.
Rayner accused the Conservatives of “wallowing in sleaze” and claimed they were demonstrating it was “one rule for them and one rule for the rest of us”.
Reaction
COLUMN: The Owen Paterson vote is one of the starkest acts of government corruption in recent memory https://t.co/XFPbvmatpN
— Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) November 3, 2021
Daniel Bruce, chief executive of anti-corruption campaigners Transparency International UK, said: “With this vote MPs have sent a clear signal that they believe there should be one set of rules for them, and another set for everyone else.
This is hugely damaging for trust in our democracy and the rule of law.
Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA representing senior civil servants, said there had been a “vicious and orchestrated campaign of personal attacks against the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards”.
Standards Committee chairman Chris Bryant, a Labour MP, had warned that if the Leadsom amendment won then “the public would think that we would be the Parliament that licensed cash for questions”.
There had never been a successful amendment to reduce the suspension of an MP since the Second World War while the House had never voted down a disciplinary sanction since the creation of the modern standards system.
Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “Sometimes to do the right thing one has to accept a degree of opprobrium.”
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let me make a prediction here..12 points to Cyprus in the next Eurovision from Greece
@Dean Anderson:
Nice idea for a comment but I think you need to understand the politics of the region a little more before trying to be humerous
Maybe they don’t call it anything but “Skopje Airport”? I never understood the need cities have to “name” airports in cities where there is only one airport of note. No one ever ends up using the name anyway.
@Gerard:
Do you fly to JFK or to New York?
@Nick Allen: “ I never understood the need cities have to “name” airports in cities where there is only ONE airport of note”
@PScald:
What other airports are u referring to? Are u thinking about ones in New Jersey, the state south of New York?
@Nick Allen: La Guardia (Queens).
@Nick Allen: LaGuardia airport is also in NYC…
@Nick Allen: Liverpool have John Lennon airport, let’s talk about that.
@Gerard: Naming an airport after a local legend or leader is sometimes a nice thing to do to remember someone important to the city or location… George Best, JFK, Charles De Gualle, Trudeau etc…
Must be a great insult to the people of Macedonia to have Colin Farnell as it’s poster boy.
You have to go with the Greeks on this one. It’s blatant cultural appropriation. Something like 85% of ancient Macedonia is within modern day Greece including Pella and all major cities. Considering how the British and Turks have plundered their tangible heritage and they were already arguing with Albania over who “owned” Alexander (his mother was from Epirus, modern day Albania) you can see why they weren’t going to let their new neighbours pass off Greek culture as their own.
@Seán J. Troy:
Most people know that our republic, whose constitutional name is “Ireland”, is not the same as the island of Ireland. Therefore, we may assume that most people know that the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia is not the same as the ancient region of Macedonia. After all, as far as I know, the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia does not have an equivalent of our Republic’s claim over Northern Ireland, which was renounced by referendum as part of the Good Friday Agreement.
@Ciarán Masterson: I don’t think that’s a fair assumption at all. Most people don’t realise Macedonians are basically ethnic Bulgarians. They literally have no ties to ancient Macedonia.
There is a claim of Greater Macedonia over regions of neighbouring countries which speak their dialect of Bulgarian.
Spot on, Mr Troy.
@Seán J. Troy: what a f….ck are you talking we are Macedonian not Bulgarians we spoke different language’s different alfabet it’s England and Ireland same for you to ??? Answer your self
@Seán J. Troy: Macedonians are ethnic Bulgarians? Most people are right not to realise it considering you’ve got it more ways than arse. Macedonian-Bulgarians, a minority group in Bulgaria, trace their heritage to the region of Macedonia in Greece, not the Former Yugoslav Republic.
@Cormac Ó Braonáin: The languages are mutually intelligible and as late as 1880 there were attempts at codification. Similar attempts were made in Greece and Germany to standardise their own dialects. This didn’t happen in the FYROM because Bulgaria was independent and the area now called the FYROM was still part of the Ottoman Empire.
The modern “Macedonian” orthography along with the usage of the term Macedonian only dates to 1945. Until then it was just considered a dialect of Bulgarian.
The point is that if it weren’t for politics, we wouldn’t be making a distinction just like we no longer make a distinction between high and low German or Katharevousa/Demotiki. There have always been regional differences within the same language groups in the past.
@Cormac Ó Braonáin:
The entire situation would be similar to German codification having never happened and Austria as in our timeline not being included in Bismarck’s greater Germany. Then after WW1 ethnic Austrians calling themselves Roman and calling themselves the descendants of the Roman empire while pretending they aren’t a German people.
Technically, parts of Austria were in the Roman empire.
@Seán J. Troy: A Macedonian national identity emerged in the 19th century, long before 1945. Remember, there was no such thing as an Italian national identity before the 1860s, or it was very rare at the least. Likewise, Germans identified as Bavarians, Prussians, etc prior to the middle of the 19th century. The Macedonian language is further removed from Bulgarian than Slovakian is from Polish, yet I don’t hear you saying that Slovakians are actually Polish.
On top of that, the area they live in is called Macedonia. There is no misappropriation of heritage by naming your country after the area in which it is situated. Erasing “Macedonia” as a geographical entity could also, hypothetically, be seen by some as attempting to erase Greek heritage. Basically, the modern Macedonians are in a damned-if-you-do and damned-if-you-don’t situation all while Bulgarians and Greeks belittle them. Ever wonder why they see themselves as Macedonian and not Bulgarian? Partly, it’s because Bulgarians see them as unworthy Bulgarians, and then the Greeks like to take advantage for political reasons. But also because they have a history different from Bulgarians and a culture also different from Bulgarians.
If there is no claim over the historical region of Macedonia in the constitution of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia then the Greeks have no justification for being obstructive. The Greeks ran their own country into the ground with their tax evasion and laziness.
@Ciarán Masterson: What right do they have to call themselves Macedonia? They’ve only been doing so within living memory. They have no linguistic ties, very little territorial ties and the so-called Macedonian people have only lived in the Balkans 1,000 years or so after Alexander died.
They are Bulgarian who were called Macedonian by a Serbian government trying to coerce them into a federal Yugoslavia rather than harbour claims to a Greater Bulgaria.
It’s nice to hear that somewhere in the world, political leaders are putting their heads together to solve age old issues by compromising and moving on. A thoroughly mature, adult solution. Well done to the parties involved. You are an inspiration.
Alexander the deadly airport
I see parallels with this country: some up north deny being Irish yet claim names and symbols, such as ‘Ulster’ and ‘Cu Chulainn’ as their own.
Just call it “Alexander the Bleedin Deadly” airport.
Sorted lads !
They can call themselves whatever they want – the trick is getting other people to call you what you want.
Macedonia have surrendered acknowledging their history in recent years to plaw maus the Greeks into not blocking their application for EU membership. Humiliating
Aviva doesn’t sponsor the country, but if they did…
Wasn’t he famously rogering his manservant? (Alexander i mean, not Farrell)
Liked his fisting cuffs did Alex.
Greece and England what is a different
@Zoran Markoski: a lot
There will be zero tolerance with FYROM. If Zaev wanted to mend relations with Greece he would have announced the demolition of the grotesque Italian made Hellenic reproduction statues that litter the FYROM landscape, the renaming of the airport in Skopje, the renaming of the highway, the renaming of the football stadium, the removal of the repulsive Baroque Hellenic style facades, the correcting of school carriculum, the removal of the Hellenic symbol on the national flag, the removal of all greater Macedonia maps from government institutions and a heartfelt apolgy to the nation of Greece for his nation being vile for the last two and a half decades. Cultural theft cannot be forgiven easily. Actions speak louder than words. Greeks do not want to hear politicians trying new age diplomacy that they learnt in their political science classes. Dimitrov, Šekerinska, Zaevand all the Slavic Fyromians currently running FYROM are just as dogmatic about an exclusivity of the name as the Gruevski ultra nationalists. There is no scope for negotiation with these antiques. Greece is the victim here. Our history has been hijacked by Fyromian Slavs. Leave our history alone. It’s not a good fit for you. You cannot pronounce nor read the Ancient inscriptions for they are in Greek. If FYROM wants exclusivity to the name Macedonia they will have to change their official language to Greek for this corresponds with the Ancient Macedonian language. We Greeks embrace everyone as a Hellene as long as they speak Greek. You cannot have Bulgarian speaking Slavs of FYROM claiming they are Antiques. It’s ridiculous.
Sekerinska can sit around bagging the VMRO for their crimes but she is just as bad. She claims she is a Slav and a non Antique and in the same breath attacks Greece for not recognizing FYROM. I thought that her hair incident would have knocked some sense into her. Dimitrov has also had a go at it. The fool was part of the negotiation team under Gruevski. He failed miserably because he too will never give up the name. These Slavs are like a dog with a bone but in their case the bone is plastic and has zero marrow.
They know what they have to do and it will never happen. The constitutional name will not change because the antiquated population of FYROM will never vote for it. They have had way too many history lessons from Milenko Nedelkovski. The vile sneaky tactics of attempting to be admitted to NATO and the EU under their provisional FYROM name won’t work either. They are fruitless attempts at diplomacy that not only waste time but also soak up tax payers efforts. Think twice FYROM before attempting negotiations with the Greeks on their history. The Albanian, Roma and Turkish birth rate is twice that of the Slavs. While you lot are busy fixating about exclusivity of your name and your antique culture the non Slavic population of FYROM will become a majority group within their ancient wonderland. The last census was in 2001, these so called minority groups were are 35% collectively. I would hate to think what they are at now. 16 years of fertile breeding has to be worrying for the new government. Back off our history you deluded farm animals.
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