Jacob Rees Mogg has signalled an apparent government climbdown following MPs’ vote to overhaul the parliamentary sleaze regime. The leader of the House pleaded with opposition MPs today for cross-party talks on the plan, which the head of a committee that advises Boris Johnson on proper behaviour has said will damage UK politics.
Lord Evans, chair of the independent committee on standards in public life, said this morning the “extraordinary proposal [was] deeply at odds with the best traditions of British democracy”, adding it “cannot be right this was accompanied by repeated attempts to question the integrity of the commissioner on standards herself”.
He was speaking shortly after Kwasi Kwarteng suggested Kathryn Stone should quit.
The proposed new body will allow appeals, which Mr Rees Mogg claimed was an important concern across the Commons – though some 100 Tories refused to back it.
Yesterday’s vote followed the standards committee’s recommendation that Owen Paterson be suspended for having conducted paid lobbying of the government, though he claims the probe was mishandled.
