2ND JOBS BAN.. BUT NOT YET
Labour’s anti-sleaze bill voted down
TORY MPs yesterday rejected tough Labour plans for an immediate sleaze crackdown, despite backing a future ban on MPs cashing in with some lucrative second jobs.
They voted against Labour leader Keir Starmer’s blueprint and in favour of cross-party talks on a new standards system instead.
But Boris Johnson’s scheme was branded a delaying tactic and a “watering-down” of efforts to stop MPs – who earn £82,000 – working as political consultants or lobbyists.
It comes after the PM’s bid to rip up standards rules prompted an outcry.
Last night he faced furious MPs on the Tories’ 1922 Committee over the row which began with his attempt to get Owen Paterson off the hook.
One claimed Mr Johnson “looked weak and sounded weak” and that his “authority is evaporating”. Mr Johnson admitted in the meeting that “on a clear road I crashed the car into a ditch”.
In PMQs, Mr Starmer dubbed the PM “a coward, not a leader” for admitting he was wrong but failing to say sorry.
Asked to withdraw his unparliamentary use of the word “coward”, he said: “I withdraw it... but he’s no leader.”
On Tuesday the PM finally tabled proposals to end paid political consultancy work by MPs, after being forced into a U-turn when Mr Starmer put forward his own plans.
But Thangam Debbonaire, Shadow Leader of the Commons, said all the PM had done was “try to gut our motion”.
Labour’s Justin Madders added: “Kicking the can down the road simply leaves too much room for doubt that we are not really serious.”
Ministers will now aim to strike a cross-party plan by January.