Johnson refuses to apologise over handling of sleaze row

BORIS JOHNSON refused to apologise yesterday for his handling of the sleaze row engulfing the Government, defying Conservative calls for him to say sorry to voters and the Commons.

Downing Street said the Prime Minister acknowledged that it was a “mistake” and “regrettable” that ministers had “conflated” an attempt to reform the process governing MPS’ conduct with an attempt to block the suspension of Owen Paterson, a former environment secretary, from the House.

The Government was forced into an about-turn last week only 24 hours after narrowly passing an amendment that pushed through both proposals. In the fraught vote, 13 Tory MPS rebelled and 38 abstained, severely undermining Mr Johnson’s authority.

Other Tories have privately expressed resentment about backing the Government, despite personal misgivings, after pressure from the whips.

Yesterday, a No 10 spokesman declined to say Mr Johnson was sorry for the way the matter had unfolded. Downing Street confirmed that a new vote would take place next week to formally record the reversal, with the spokesman saying: “We recognise the strong views on this particular point.”

The amendment will rescind the Government’s plan to set up a crossparty committee to review the process for sanctioning MPS. It will also allow MPS to approve the parliamentary standards commissioner’s verdict that Mr Paterson made an “egregious” breach of the lobbying rules.

It will not permit MPS to confirm Mr Paterson’s 30-day suspension from the House, because he has resigned his seat. He was found to have broken the rules on paid advocacy in acting on behalf of two companies that together paid him more than £100,000 a year.

The development came as Chris Bryant, the Labour chairman of the Commons standards committee, announced that a senior judge would be commissioned to offer advice on possible changes to the MPS’ code of conduct.

Mr Bryant said that as part of the committee’s ongoing review of the code it had “already taken advice today from Sir Stephen Irwin, who is chair of the independent expert panel”.

His intervention was seen as a concession to allies of Mr Paterson and several Tory members of the committee, who have criticised the way the system works. On Monday, Alberto Costa warned the committee lacked judicial experience and argued the commissioner was trapped in a conflict of interest as both investigator and adviser in cases of MPS accused of wrongdoing.

Last night, the Commons Speaker said that “if we haven’t got a democracy, we’re a dictatorship”.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle insisted that is “one thing that we’re not going to become”, telling Times Radio: “It’s my job and duty to protect Parliament, and to protect it to ensure the rights of MPS, and I’m there to stand up for them.”

He also appeared to praise younger Tory MPS who rebelled last week. “It’s taken a lot of the new members to stand up ... young members expressing their views and saying to the old guard, ‘You’ve got this wrong’,” he said. “That’s good for democracy. That is good for party politics as well.”

‘It’s taken a lot of new members to stand up … That’s good for democracy and party politics as well’