SNP MP John Nicolson to be investigated over Speaker tweet
- Published
An SNP MP has been referred to the parliamentary privileges committee after he shared the contents of a private letter from the Speaker.
John Nicolson was accused of a "clear breach" of parliamentary rules for tweeting details of the letter from Sir Lindsay Hoyle.
Mr Nicolson said he was "deeply sorry" that Sir Lindsay was upset and insisted there had been "no malicious intent".
MPs voted by 371 to 16 to refer him to the committee.
All 16 of those who voted against were SNP MPs, with the party's remaining 28 MPs - including Mr Nicolson himself - not taking part in the vote.
The committee will investigate the circumstances and report back on its findings - and any disciplinary measures it recommends - to the Commons.
Mr Nicolson was rebuked by Sir Lindsay last week for posting details of a confidential letter regarding a decision not to refer former Conservative culture secretary Nadine Dorries to the privileges committee.
The row relates to claims made to the committee by Ms Dorries earlier this year that a Channel 4 documentary she appeared in had used "paid actors" who were pretending to be people living in poverty.
Her comments about the Tower Block of Commons programme came as the government prepared to privatise the broadcaster.
An investigation by Channel 4 and the show's production company found no evidence to support her allegations.
The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee, of which Mr Nicolson is a member, was highly critical of Ms Dorries and said she should have corrected the record.
But its report did not recommend, external that she be referred to the privileges committee.
Sir Lindsay accused Mr Nicolson of posting a "misleading" and "biased" video about him
Mr Nicolson, a former BBC presenter, later tweeted a video in which he said: "I sent a copy of the report to Mr Speaker, and he's responded and I thought I should update you on what he said.
"He says that he's considered my letter, but he's decided to take no further action and not to refer Nadine Dorries to the Privileges Committee.
"In other words, she'll suffer no consequences for what she's done. And I thought you should know."
The video, which still appears on Mr Nicolson's Twitter feed, external, sparked an angry online backlash against Sir Lindsay.
Sir Lindsay said at the time that Mr Nicolson had "seen fit to give a partial and biased account of my letter on Twitter", had "misled the people of this country" and had "put me in a bad light with the people of this country".
'Normal procedure'
A motion to debate Mr Nicolson's behaviour was tabled in the Commons by Conservative MP David Davis, who accused the Ochil and South Perthshire MP of attempting to blame the Speaker for Ms Dorries not being referred to the watchdog.
Mr Davis said the recommendations of the DCMS committee were unanimous, and Mr Nicolson had not voted against them.
Speaking in the Commons on Tuesday, Mr Davis said: "Nowhere in his filmed statement did he tell his followers that Mr Speaker was following normal precedent or normal procedure by accepting the will of the DCMS Committee.
"All of us in this House have a duty to uphold its rules and institutions, but by knowingly breaching the confidentiality of the Speaker's correspondence he has done the opposite of that. This is a clear breach of our rules."
Mr Nicolson told MPs that he was "deeply sorry that the Speaker is upset", adding: "I don't conduct politics in a way - for those who know me - that ever aims to be offensive".
He said: "I hope the House concludes that there was no malicious intent in anything that I did and I apologise to the Speaker for breaching a House rule.
"Given the all-party nature of the committee report, I sought no party political advantage and I hope that members here today will seek no party political advantage.
"My only motivation was to do what I always try to do and that is to engage with debate and to communicate my work here with constituents and with journalists as openly and fairly as I can."