22 Tory MPs who were investigated or punished by Parliament's watchdog joined the vote to overhaul it
- 22 Tory MPs who voted to overhaul the standards process had been probed by Parliament's watchdog.
- 19 of the 22 had claims against them upheld by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
22 Conservative MPs who voted for to overhaul Parliament's standards processes have been investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, research by Insider has found.
British lawmakers voted Wednesday on a backbench amendment to a motion that would have suspended Owen Paterson, a Conservative MP, from the House of Commons for 30 days.
The 30-day suspension was recommended by the Standards Committee after it found Paterson committed an "egregious" breach of the rules by lobbying the government on behalf of companies paying him a £100,000 a year salary.
But in an extraordinary intervention, Boris Johnson's government instructed Conservative MPs to support an amendment that paused Paterson's punishment and introduced a process to overhaul the Parliamentary standards regime.
Of the 250 Tory MPs that voted for the amendment, 22 MPs are either under current investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards or have had allegations upheld against them since the 2019 general election.
The amendment only passed by 18 votes, meaning if these MPs had abstained, the amendment would have failed.
The following 19 MPs have had allegations upheld against them:
- Adam Afriyie
- Scott Benton
- Crispin Blunt
- Peter Bone
- Maria Caulfield
- Robert Courts
- Richard Drax
- David Duguid
- Iain Duncan Smith
- Mark Francois
- George Freeman
- Adam Holloway
- Karl McCartney
- Natalie Elphicke
- Roger Gale
- Theresa Villiers
- Bob Stewart
- Chloe Smith
- Craig Tracey
The following three are currently under investigation:
- James Cleverly
- Daniel Kawczynski
- David Warburton
Downing Street said they hope to see an appeals process introduced in the interest of "natural justice", but deny their support for the amendment today had anything to do with Paterson.
Labour and the Scottish National Party have said they will not be taking their seats in the new select committee, leaving it solely to the Conservatives.
Wendy Chamberlain, the Liberal Democrat chief whip, told Insider: "The Government's decision to whip the vote supporting Owen Paterson is shameful. The report was the outcome of an investigation that clearly concluded he had broken the rules. It was fair and independent.
"I stood in the voting lobby with several Conservative colleagues who clearly disagreed with their own government. The fact that the margin of success can be accounted for by those who are under investigation or have had complaints upheld, shows that governments and MPs should not be allowed to mark their own homework.
"Climate Change and coming out of the Pandemic are just two issues where trust in politicians is essential. Owen Paterson and the Government's defence of him will inevitably damage what little trust is left."
Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy leader, said after the vote that the Conservatives "voted to give a green light to corruption" and "brought shame on our democracy."