More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
A Kent MP has defended a controversial vote that has rejected a recommendation to suspend a backbencher - who has subsequently resigned - over sleaze allegations.
Thanet South MP Craig Mackinlay said the Commons was right to veto a call by a standards watchdog to expel Owen Paterson for 30 days over a breach of lobbying rules.
The government instead blocked the report and said there would be an independent assessment of disciplinary procedures.
Conservative MPs were ordered to vote against the recommendations.
However the decision yesterday caused outrage and today the government did a u-turn and announced that there would be a second opportunity to vote on the report recommending Mr Paterson’s suspension.
Then, a short while later, Mr Paterson announced his decision to resign his seat.
"This is a painful decision but I believe the right one," he said, insisting once more his innocence.
"I will remain a public servant but outside the cruel world of politics..."
"I have loved being the MP for North Shropshire and have considered it a privilege to have been elected to serve my constituents for 24 years.
"I would like to thank my staff who have worked for me so loyally over many years. I also want to thank those who have stood by me so staunchly.
"I will remain a public servant but outside the cruel world of politics."
The government says it will now carry out an independent investigation into whether disciplinary procedures should be reviewed.
Mr Mackinlay said: “The vote yesterday was not about Owen Paterson - it was about process and whether the process stood up to scrutiny. It has to stand up to natural justice whatever quasi-judicial process is in place. That’s important. The Commissioner for Standards and all the laws we are living under are very odd.
"We need to be very sure that the process which has come to those conclusions is properly robust..."
"You have the Commissioner acting like the investigator - the CPS, if you like - bringing the prosecution and being the judge at the same time.
"If we saw that in a foreign jurisdiction we would probably laugh. The problem is that this was put in place in haste in 2009 after the expenses scandal and we have been repenting at leisure.
"We need to be very sure that the process which has come to those conclusions is properly robust because there is no right of appeal procedure, which again in any other judicial system, whether it be a tribunal at work or in a court of law.
"We haven’t got that in the system and it is needed. The reality of what we are seeing with this case is that there are flaws. Of course I know how it looks but if something is wrong, continuing with it is really not the right thing to do."
Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg today told MPs that any overhaul of the way in which investigations into the conduct of MPs was carried out would be kept separate from the issue of whether Mr Paterson had broken any rules.
Both Labour and Liberal Democrats had indicated they would boycott any committee established by the government to look at the existing system.
Common standards committee had concluded that Mr Patterson had misused his position as an MP to benefit two firms he worked for.
