U.K. politicians caught in lobbying sting deny

LONDON (AP) — Two former senior British government ministers have denied wrongdoing after being caught in a hidden-camera sting appearing to offer access to politicians and diplomats in return for cash.

Jack Straw, who was foreign secretary under Labour Party Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Conservative former Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, were secretly filmed by reporters posing as representatives of a fictional Hong Kongbased communications agency. The reporters said they were seeking top U.K. politicians to join the firm’s advisory board.

Rifkind was recorded saying he could arrange “useful access’’ to British ambassadors, while Straw spoke of using “charm and menace’’ to change politicians’ minds.

The sting by Channel 4’s “Dispatches’’ and the Daily Telegraph newspaper has reopened debate about political lobbying.