DUP suspends Paisley Jr over freebies

MP ian Paisley has been suspended by the Democratic Unionist Party founded by his firebrand father.

He will also be excluded from the House of Commons for 30 sitting days after he failed to declare in 2013 that Sri lanka’s government had paid for two luxury holidays for him and his wider family. The Commons Standards Committee said their value may have been “significantly more” than his own estimate of £50,000.

A year later, Mr Paisley lobbied against a proposed United nations resolution to investigate alleged human rights abuses during Sri lanka’s civil war without citing this expensive hospitality.

The MP, whose late father the Rev. ian Paisley set up the DUP in 1971, is one of its 10 MPs now helping to prop up Theresa May’s minority government.

A party statement said he would be suspended “pending further investigation into his conduct”.

if 10 per cent of his north Antrim constituents now call for a by-election he will face a fight for his seat in parliament, possibly weakening the government still further.

He said: ‘if a petition leads to a by-election, make no mistake about it, i will seek re-election as i have never run away from an election in my life.’

Mr Paisley has denied any ulterior motive for his “genuine mistake” and offered an “unreserved apology”.