the times | Thursday November 11 2021 2GM 7News
Vice-chairman
chooses to
take step back
Steven Swinford Political EditorA Tory MP has stepped down as a vice-
chairman of the Conservative Party in
the wake of the government’s botched
attempt to block the suspension of a
grandee who breached lobbying rules.
Andrew Bowie said he had decided to
“take a step back” from the demands of
his role and focus solely on represent-
ing his constituents. He has a majority
of 843 in West Aberdeenshire.
Although Bowie did not state the
reasons for his departure, one friend
told the website Reaction that the MP
felt he could no longer defend the gov-
ernment in the wake of its handling of
the Owen Paterson vote. “He doesn’t
want to make a fuss but he’s unable to
support the government after the
events of recent days,” they said.
Other Conservative Party sources
say that Bowie’s decision was unrelated
to the Paterson affair and is because he
wants to focus on shoring up support in
his constituency. In his statement Bow-
ie said: “Over the last few months I have
come to the decision that I need to take
a step back from the demands of the
role to focus solely on representing my
constituents.” He will remain in post
until a successor is found.
Bowie was first elected in 2017 with a
majority of almost 8,000, but this was
cut to 843 after an SNP surge. He is
regarded as a party loyalist with minis-
terial ambitions.
Boris Johnson last week whipped
Tory MPs to back an amendment to
stay the suspension of Paterson and
create a select committee to overhaul
the standards system.Former MPs who work as lobbyists
could be banned from holding parlia-
mentary passes after a review ordered
by the Commons Speaker.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle said yesterday that
lobbyists should “absolutely not” have
the passes and that he had asked for the
matter to be looked into.
Former MPs are entitled to passes
giving them access to the parliament-
ary estate if they have served more than
two terms or six years, whichever is
longer. They are banned from using this
access for lobbying but critics say that
the system is not adequately policed.
Hoyle said yesterday that he had
asked Sir Charles Walker, the Tory MP
who chairs the Commons administra-
tion committee, to look into introduc-
ing a ban on lobbyists holding passes.
Hoyle told broadcasters: “If you’re a
lobbyist, I don’t think it is right [you]
should have a pass to this House. I have
asked quite rightly Sir Charles Walker
to look into that on my behalf, I am
waiting for that report to come back.”
More than 280 former MPs hold par-
liamentary passes according to the
most recent register from October, in-
cluding at least ten who work for lobby-
ing or consultancy companies. Former
MPs are not required to register their
interests to hold a pass.
Those who hold passes include
Michael Dugher, the former shadow
culture secretary and Labour MP for
Barnsley East who is now chief execu-
tive of the Betting and Gaming Council,
and Chris Leslie, the former Labour
and Change UK MP for Nottingham
East who is now chief executive of the
Credit Services Association, a debt col-
lectors’ trade body. There is no sugges-Boris Johnson has been forced into
denying that Britain is a corrupt coun-
try and said MPs who broke the rules
should be investigated and punished.
Speaking at the Cop26 conference in
Glasgow, the prime minister repeatedly
refused to apologise for his botched
attempt to block the suspension of the
Conservative MP Owen Paterson, a
former cabinet minister, for breaching
lobbying rules.
He defended the right of MPs to take
second jobs, arguing that they had
being doing outside work for hundreds
of years and that it ultimately strength-
ened democracy. “I genuinely believe
that the UK is not remotely a corrupt
country, nor do I believe that our insti-
tutions are corrupt,” he said.
He appeared to criticise Sir Geoffrey
Cox, the former attorney-general, for
voting by proxy from the Caribbean
while defending the British Virgin Is-
lands in a corruption case brought by
the UK.
The Times also disclosed that Cox
had used his parliamentary office
during one hearing. Commons rules re-
quire MPs to use their taxpayer-funded
offices only for parliamentary work.
The prime minister said MPs should
“devote” themselves to their consti-News
he approved Cox’s proxy vote
Johnson denies Britain is corrupt
but isn’t sorry about Paterson case
Steven Swinford Political Editor Cox has been paid more than £1 mil-
lion in the past 12 months to work as a
lawyer for clients including the BVI in a
legal inquiry started by the Foreign
Office.
Johnson also repeatedly refused to
apologise for his handling of the Pater-
son case, and said he was adamant that
his own behaviour had always been “in
conformity with the rules”.
The Electoral Commission is investi-
gating whether a £58,000 donation to
help to refurbish the prime minister’s
Downing Street flat was properly de-
clared by the Conservative Party. It has
submitted a draft report of its findings
to the party for response.
Kathryn Stone, parliament’s stan-
dards commissioner, is considering
whether to start her own inquiry once
the findings have been published.
Douglas Ross, leader of the Scottish
Conservatives, suggested that Johnson
should apologise for his handling of the
Paterson case. He told Times Radio: “I
think it’s totally wrong, they took the
wrong approach. And you’ve got to be
honest and just sometimes hold your
hands up and say that was the wrong
decision. And then hopefully allow us
all to move on. Because this is doing a
lot of damage to politics.”
Tories look like a toxic decaying brand,
Iain Martin, page 31tuents in his strongest remarks on the
standards crisis he caused by attempting
to protect Paterson last week.
“For hundreds of years MPs have
gone to parliament and also done work
as doctors, lawyers or soldiers or fire-
fighters or writers, or all sorts of other
trades and callings,” Johnson said.
“And on the whole, the UK popula-
tion has understood that that has actu-
ally strengthened our democracy,
because people basically feel that
parliamentarians do need to have some
experience of the world.
“But, if that system is going to con-
tinue today, then it is crucial that MPs
follow the rules. And the rules say two
crucial things: you must put your job as
an MP first and you must devote your-
self primarily and above all to your con-
stituents and the people who send you
to Westminster, to parliament.
“And they also say that you should
not use your position as an MP to lobby
or otherwise intervene on behalf of any
outside commercial interest. And it is
not only that you have to register those
interests. You can’t lobby or make rep-
resentation while an MP on behalf of
those interests.”
Johnson added: “Those are the rules
and they must be enforced and those
who don’t obey them should of course
face sanctions.”becomes an MP,” Sanders said.
“They don’t have any experience.
But if someone has a job they are
much more likely to be honest
and defy government whips than if
they are tied into having a career
as a MP.”
Around Bideford’s quayside in the
west of the Torridge & West Devon
constituency, many voters were
unimpressed with their MP’s income
from his second job.
Chris Wood, 64, a retired head
teacher, said that the whole point of
paying MPs a decent salary was to
ensure they did not have to take
second jobs. ‘If he’s getting £82,
a year then that should be enough,”
he said. “We’ve long gone past the
time that people needed to be
independently wealthy to stand for
parliament. It makes me cross thatprivileged people game the system
in this way.”
Kim Langridge, 64, said: “I don’t
understand why he’s even allowed
to take on work in the British
Virgin Islands. He’s paid to be
here, to look after our area and
our interests. So why doesn’t he
concentrate on that?”
Richard Green, 59, a former
engineering workshop manager,
said: “To me this is all very simple.
Mr Cox is elected to be here and
look after his constituents. If he’s
not then he’s not doing his job.
Over the years he has amassed a
fortune. Surely he doesn’t need the
money.”
Tony Addington, 85, a widower,
said he was “very surprised” to
hear that his local MP had been
working “on the other side of the
world for months”. He added: “This
town needs someone to be
standing up for it in London. How
on earth is he able to do that from
the British Virgin Islands?”Ex-members who lobby
face parliamentary ban
tion that either of them are breaking
the rules surrounding their use.
An investigation by The Times during
the summer found that dozens of
lobbyists and business executives have
the freedom to roam the parliamentary
estate, either because they are former
MPs, MPs’ spouses, or because they
have staff passes sponsored by MPs or
peers.
Hoyle made the intervention after
allegations of sleaze against the gov-
ernment and Commons entered their
second week. Hoyle said that it had
been “awful” and “a dark week” for par-
liament.
There are calls to toughen the system
for investigating rule breaches by MPs
and to introduce restrictions on
them holding second jobs as advisers or
consultants.
Asked about this yesterday, Hoyle
said that “it’s for the House to take the
decision on second jobs” and added that
“there is more accountability to an MP
than any other career”.
Paul Bristow, the Conservative MP
for Peterborough and former chairman
of the self-regulatory body of lobbyists,
says today that sitting MPs should be
banned from lobbying roles and that
former MPs should register their inter-
ests to hold a pass.
Writing in The Times Red Box he
agrees that there should be “a ban on
engaging in paid political or parlia-
mentary advisory or consultancy
work” for members of the Commons
and Lords. He adds: “We should also re-
form the system related to parliament-
ary passes. Former MPs don’t need to
make a declaration of interests to claim
a pass and wander around the parlia-
mentary estate at will. It won’t make me
popular to say this, but they should.”Eleni Courea Political ReporterSir Geoffrey Cox earned hundreds of
thousands of pounds working abroad
as a lawyer for the British Virgin Islands
while voting remotely in the Commons