Tory MP Geoffrey Cox accused of breaking parliament rules while working for Caribbean tax haven November 10, 2021 Senior Tory MP Geoffrey Cox has been put under more pressure this morning, after being referred to Westminster’s rules watchdog for appearing to use his parliamentary office for his work as a legal adviser to a foreign government. Cox has said this morning he will cooperate with any probe into him, while home secretary Sajid [...]
Senior Tory MP Geoffrey Cox starts £400k-a-year job at City law firm November 8, 2021 Senior Tory Geoffrey Cox has revealed he has started a £400,000-a-year job at a City law firm as parliament prepares to discuss whether MPs should be able to have lucrative second jobs. Cox, a former attorney general, started his new role at multinational law firm Withers LLP on 1 November and will be working 41 [...]
Whitehall needs stronger independent regulator, says former top civil servant November 8, 2021 The UK Civil Service is an unaccountable “closed shop” and there needs to be stronger independent regulation of Whitehall, according to a former top mandarin. Lord Nick Macpherson, former permanent secretary at the Treasury, said there needs to be a “dramatic overhaul of the appointments system” to end the era of “personal patronage” in Whitehall. [...]
Labour to pile more pressure on Boris Johnson as Paterson sleaze saga rolls on November 7, 2021 More pressure will be piled onto Boris Johnson tomorrow over the Conservatives’ record on sleaze and corruption as the scandal over Owen Paterson’s lobbying activities rolls on. There will be a debate in parliament that will see Labour given an opportunity to hammer the government over the saga, which saw Paterson resign on Thursday. Labour [...]
EU could rip up Brexit trade deal if UK suspends NI Protocol, Simon Coveney warns November 7, 2021 Brussels could rip up the post-Brexit UK-EU trade deal if Boris Johnson suspends the Northern Ireland Protocol, Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney has warned. This would result in an effective no-deal Brexit as trade barriers would be immediately erected between the UK and the EU. Coveney today said the Brexit Withdrawal agreement, which contains the [...]
Boris Johnson’s approval rating at record low after Paterson sleaze saga November 7, 2021 Boris Johnson’s approval rating has hit a record low in the wake of his attempt to overhaul parliament’s rules to get ex-Tory MP Owen Paterson off the hook for an “egregious” breach of lobbying rules. A poll from Opinium/The Observer today saw Johnson’s approval rating slump four points to -20, surpassing his previous low of [...]
Tory party hit by more sleaze claims as £3m donors systematically given House of Lords place November 7, 2021 The Tory party has been hit by further claims of sleaze, with new research showing that a group of major donors who give more than £3m to the party are systematically being given a place in the House of Lords. New research showed that for the past two decades that any Tory member who takes [...]
Brexit: UK to deny EU £15bn of funding if there is no Northern Ireland settlement November 7, 2021 The UK is preparing to withdraw from major EU research programmes and deny Brussels £15bn if the row over the Northern Ireland Protocol is not resolved. The government is looking at alternatives to the EU’s Horizon Europe, Copernicus and Euratom programmes, which Brussels has blocked the UK from joining despite assurances in the post-Brexit divorce [...]
George Eustice says Tory sleaze scandal a ‘Westminster storm in a teacup’ November 7, 2021 This week’s scandal over ex-Tory MP’s Owen Paterson’s breach of lobbying rules is a “Westminster storm in a teacup”, according to environment secretary George Eustice. However, Eustice said the government made “a mistake” in trying to overturn Paterson’s recommended suspension, for earning £100,000 a year as a private sector lobbyist, and dismantle parliament’s standards process. [...]
Independent MP Claudia Webbe given 10-week suspended jail sentence for harassment November 4, 2021 Independent MP Claudia Webbe has been handed a 10-week suspended jail sentence and 200 hours of community service, after being found guilty of harassment. Webbe – who was formerly a Labour MP – was accused of harassing Michelle Merritt through a series of phone calls and text messages between 2018 and 2020. The Leicester East [...]
