Boris Johnson has repeatedly refused to apologise for the Tory sleaze scandal and he has also refused to condemn Geoffrey Cox.
The Prime Minister declined to apologise when asked by ITV ’s Robert Peston if he would say sorry for the sleaze debacle.
Yet he said: “Those who break the rules must be investigated and should be punished.”
And despite ordering Tory MPs to scrap a sanction for Owen Paterson just seven days ago, he claimed: “Anybody who breaks the rules who engages in paid advocacy in the House of Commons should be punished and they should face the appropriate sanction.”
But he argued MPs having second jobs “has actually strengthened our democracy” by bringing outside experience to Westminster.
The PM said the rules say two crucial things - “you must put your job as an MP first”, and you “cannot lobby for outside commercial interests”.
AFP journalist Jitendra Joshi later asked the PM what tangible difference his presence has made at Cop26, "and if positive at all, why not stay until the end…?"
Mr Joshi also asked the PM if he was confident that his own actions as an MP and as a minister "are entirely above reproach, and would pass muster in any standards investigation that might come up?'
Mr Johnson responded: “All my declarations are, I er, in conformity with the rules and you can, you can certainly, er, certainly study them, um, and, and, and, er, that, er, you know, will remain the case."
It comes hours after Sir Geoffrey insisted he has done nothing wrong when using his parliamentary office for his £1million-a-year second job.
Labour Deputy Angela Rayner wrote to the standards commissioner Kathryn Stone, asking for her "guidance on beginning a formal investigation on this matter".
But the Tory MP put out a statement, saying he "does not believe he breached the rules", but would cooperate with the investigation.
In Mr Johnson's speech, 48 hours before the climate summit comes to an end, Mr Johnson said world leaders need to be more ambitious.
He quoted the president of Palau in saying that if “big economies” do not do more to combat climate change “we might as well bomb his islands”.
The PM admitted the Cop26 conference will “not fix” climate change in one go.
But added: “What we can possibly do, if things go well in the remaining 48 hours, 52 hours, whatever we’ve got – and I don’t see why we shouldn’t go into extra time if we have to, but you know I don’t want to – is the possibility that we will come away from this with the first genuine road map for a solution to anthropogenic climate change that I can think of in my lifetime.”
