Johnson admits sleaze row mistakes
BORIS JOHNSON has admitted making mistakes in the handling of the Owen Paterson case as he risked a fresh clash with Tory MPs over plans to ban them from paid political consultancy work.
The Prime Minister’s relationship with his backbenchers has been strained since he ordered them to back a plan to block the suspension of Mr Paterson for breaching lobbying rules, only to make a U-turn following a backlash.
He is now pushing for a wider shake-up of Commons standards rules to curb MPs’ second jobs, which could lead to a further clash with backbenchers.
The sleaze row dominated yesterday’s tetchy session of Prime Minister’s Questions, which saw Mr Johnson rebuked by Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
The PM faced further questions about the situation when he faced the Liaison Committee of senior MPs. He admitted the initial effort to shield Mr Paterson from immediate suspension to enable a review of his case and the disciplinary process had been an error.
“The intention genuinely was not to exonerate anybody, the intention was to see whether there was some way in which, on a crossparty basis, we could improve the system,” Mr Johnson said. “In retrospect, it was obviously, obviously mistaken to think we could conflate the two things, and do I regret that decision? Yes, I certainly do.”
Mr Paterson quit as an MP rather than face a vote on his suspension, after the Government abandoned its bid to shield him from an immediate sanction.
Mr Johnson insisted he wanted to find a cross-party approach to the Westminster sleaze rows, but became involved in spiky Commons exchanges with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. He said he wanted a new approach based on “two key principles”, that MPs should focus on their job in Parliament and “no one should exploit their position in order to advance the commercial interests of anybody else”. But any attempt at forging an alliance across the House was undermined by Mr Johnson repeatedly questioning Sir Keir’s own outside earnings as a lawyer before he became party leader, during angry exchanges in the Commons.
Sir Keir’s entry in the register of interests shows he earned more than £25,000 for legal work during this Parliament, before he became Labour leader.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Johnson accused the Labour leader of “Mish-conduct” – a reference to talks Sir Keir had with legal firm Mishcon de Reya about a possible role in 2017.
The Speaker repeatedly ordered Mr Johnson to stop asking Sir Keir questions and said the exchanges had been “ill-tempered”, adding: “I need this House to gain respect, but it starts by individuals showing respect for each other.”
Sir Keir said Mr Johnson’s refusal to fully apologise for his stance on the Paterson case showed he was “a coward, not a leader”. He later withdrew that allegation.
MPs were due to vote last night on a Labour motion on banning consultancies, and a proposed Government amendment, which the Opposition claimed waters down the proposals.