A Tory MP has been slammed for working in the Caribbean for a month during the coronavirus lockdown while making thousands of pounds as lawyer.
The former Attorney General Geoffrey Cox spent around a month earlier this year in the British Virgin Islands advising the tax haven on corruption charges brought by the Foreign Office.
He earned more than £150,000 when he was working 4,000 miles away from his Torridge and West Devon constituency.
During his month away in the sun Cox also found time to vote remotely by proxy in the House of Commons.
In the MP's register of interests it shows he is paid £400,000-a-year by the law firm Withers.
Lib Dem MP Wendy Chamberlain said: "The public will rightly be gobsmacked by these reports.
"Why was a Tory MP apparently spending time on the other side of the world advising a known tax haven instead of supporting his constituents? For the justice secretary to defend this behaviour as legitimate is frankly astonishing.
"The bigger irony here is that the government has ordered an inquiry into corruption and political cronyism in the British Virgin Islands, while refusing to carry one out at home."
Boris Johnson has faced huge pressure over his handling of the sleaze row that has engulfed the Tory party following the resignation of Owen Paterson.
Labour leader Keir Starmer said: "Boris Johnson doesn't have the decency to defend or apologise for his actions.
"Rather than repairing the damage he's done, the Prime Minister is running scared.
"His concern, as always, is self-preservation, not the national interest."
Dominic Raab, the Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary, was forced to defend Cox for working from the Caribbean.
He told LBC: "Well, you know about it precisely because of the transparency that's required and ultimately in terms of accountability it's for the voters, the listeners watching your show, to hold all of us to account, that's the ultimate accountability we have in our democracy."
Asked if he was worried about sleaze, Raab said: "I think we're focused on the job at hand, but I always think it's important that we uphold the strongest standards of probity.
"I think when you're in jobs in public office there's a higher standard, I've always accepted that personally myself, and I think it's important that we demonstrate that as well in our actions."
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