You might have missed this…

[WTFH]

If your choice of media outlet is the Telegraph (main headline about NHS staff not having to be jabbed, sub headlines about BBC bias)
Or the Express (main headline about being careful and saving Christmas)
Or the Mail (main headline doesn’t mention the party involved)

But a Tory MP who has admitted to taking large sums of money (possibly in excess of half a million pounds) for lobbying, is getting off from parliamentary standards because the government voted to change the standards last night.
https://news.sky.com/story/owen-pate...alted-12459119

Not newsworthy to some.

[vetran]

Was all over LBC this morning.

The wail mentions the MP in the headline?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...erson-row.html

[ladymuck]

Yeah it's been on the Today programme this morning and covered yesterday too.

I have no issue with the process being reviewed to ensure that it's still fit for purpose.

I do have an issue with using that as an excuse to get someone let off for breaking the rules. The chair was on the Today programme this morning and was quite persuasive. He said changing the rules to protect your friends is something you expect to see in Russia, not the UK. I am inclined to agree.

[SueEllen]

There was a thread on this last night.

Linky - https://forums.contractoruk.com/gene...yone-help.html

I've not missed it and Yorkshire cricket...

[SueEllen]

Oh and Jacob Rees-Mogg has done a kind of reverse.

[SueEllen]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...-owen-paterson

The government has U-turned and ditched immediate plans to overhaul the standards system after a Tory MP faced suspension for breaching lobbying rules.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Commons leader, admitted the move had “created a certain amount of controversy” and that it had “conflated the individual case with the general concern” there was not an appeals process for MPs who felt the punishment they faced was unfair.



Rees-Mogg said the government wanted to “achieve improvements in our system for future cases”, but that after Labour and the SNP vowed to boycott the committee, he realised cross-party consensus had not been achieved.

He promised to “bring forward more detailed proposals once there have been cross-party discussions”.

[SueEllen]

I think he is sick using his wife death to excuse his conduct.

[SueEllen]

Kwasi Kwarteng was doing the rounds this morning...

"Can you give us one single example of Boris Johnson promoting and upholding the principle of standards in public life?"

Then comes the U-turn from Rees-Snob...

[DoctorStrangelove]

Then comes the U-turn from Rees-Snob...

His old nanny told him the optics were bad.

[malvolio]

I read somewhere that this need not have happened at all if Labour had got their act together and voted down the earlier proposal. With the Tory abstentions and the ones ignoring the Whips, they could easily have done so. If true, it does highlight how useless our opposition really is if they miss a chance to defeat the sitting government.