Tory MP Andrew Bridgen facing suspension from Commons
- Published
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen is facing a Commons suspension after breaching lobbying rules "on multiple occasions and in multiple ways".
The cross-party Standards Committee found he had displayed a "very cavalier" attitude to the rules.
It called for him to be suspended for a total of five sitting days for offences including an "unacceptable attack upon the integrity" of Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone.
The whole House will vote on sanctions.
In a statement, the North West Leicestershire MP said he was "extremely disappointed", but accepted the committee's findings and would "comply with them as required to do so",
The committee said Mr Bridgen had called the integrity of Ms Stone into question on the basis of "wholly unsubstantiated and false allegations, and attempted to improperly influence the House's standards processes".
It recommended a suspension of three days for this - in addition to two days for for three breaches of the MPs' code of conduct, including failing to declare a relevant interest in emails to ministers.
The report found Mr Bridgen had "demonstrated a very cavalier attitude to the House's rules on registration and declaration of interests, including repeatedly saying that he did not check his own entry in the register".
The committee said Mr Bridgen should have told ministers and officials he received a donation and a funded visit to Ghana from the Cheshire-based firm Mere Plantations, and had a £12,000 contract to be an adviser.
He was found to have committed a "significant litany of errors" by failing to do so in eight emails to ministers, and in five meetings with ministers or public officials, as he discussed Mere's tax treatment and trading of carbon credits.
The MP had questioned whether his reputation as an outspoken critic of then-prime minister Boris Johnson could have influenced Ms Stone's findings.
'Unacceptable attack'
He wrote to her saying: "I was distressed to hear on a number of occasions an unsubstantiated rumour that your contract as Parliamentary Standards Commissioner is due to end in the coming months and that there are advanced plans to offer you a peerage, potentially as soon as the Prime Minister's resignation honours list.
"There is also some suggestion amongst colleagues that those plans are dependent upon arriving at the 'right' outcomes when conducting parliamentary standards investigations.
"Clearly my own travails with Number 10 and the former PM have been well documented and obviously a small part of me is naturally concerned to hear such rumours.
"More importantly however you are rightfully renowned for your integrity and decency and no doubt such rumours are only designed to harm your reputation."
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone
The committee said Mr Bridgen's email "appears to be an attempt to place wholly inappropriate pressure on the commissioner" which is "completely unacceptable behaviour".
The Commons will vote on whether to approve the recommended five days' suspension.
Mr Bridgen must also apologise to the House and the commissioner. But he will not face a recall petition from his constituents - that could have triggered a by-election - because the period of suspension falls short of the 10 sitting days required.
His trip in August 2019 to a plantation funded by Mere, which grows mainly teak in the Ashanti region of Ghana while focusing on the reforestation of degraded land, was valued at £3,251.51.
Mr Bridgen argued during the investigation that the lobbying rules did not apply because the trip was of "negative financial benefit" to him.
He said he was left "personally out of pocket" because he paid for his own yellow fever vaccination and bought local currency which he could not convert to pounds once back in the UK.
"This local currency I gave away to a Ghanaian doorkeeper in Parliament as I would not be visiting again," he told the committee.
Mere also donated £5,000 to Mr Bridgen's local Conservative association in October 2019.
His correspondence with ministers included emails to Kwasi Kwarteng when he was business secretary in February 2021 and then-financial secretary to the Treasury Jesse Norman in August 2021.
Mr Bridgen argued he did not need to declare interests when "acting as a constituency MP", but the committee ruled that this exemption "cannot be considered as a blank cheque" and that his activities extended beyond the initial constituency focus.
Ms Stone - who is independent - found that the MP "habitually failed to declare his interests with Mere Plantations".
Labour's Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the case was "just another example of the lack of ethics and integrity at the heart of the Conservative Party".