Politics

Andrew Bridgen faces Commons suspension over ‘cavalier lobbying breaches’

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen faces a Commons suspension after being found to have displayed a “very cavalier” attitude to the rules in a series of lobbying breaches.

The Standards Committee advised a suspension of five sitting days for offences including an “unacceptable attack upon the integrity” of standards commissioner Kathryn Stone.

He called Stone’s integrity into question on wholly unsubstantiated and false allegations and attempted to improperly influence the process, the cross-party committee said.

“Bridgen has demonstrated a very cavalier attitude to the House’s rules on registration and declaration of interests, including repeatedly saying that he did not check his own entry in the register,” their report read.

The MP for North West Leicestershire since 2010 was recommended for suspension for two days for three breaches of the MPs’ code of conduct, including by failing to declare a relevant interest in emails to ministers.

He faces a suspension of a further three days for the “attack” on Stone.

Related: Elevenses: One Term Wallies

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Published by