Bridgen had ‘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’.
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen has become the latest Conservative politician to be embroiled in a lobbying scandal, as he faces being suspended from the Commons for breaking lobbying and standards rules.
The Committee on Standard found that Bridgen broke the code of conduct by lobbying ministers on behalf of Mere Plantations – a reforesting firm from whom he had received “registrable financial benefits”. Those benefits included him receiving a donation, a visit to Ghana and the offer of an advisory contract.
Bridgen breached rules on registering interests by failing to declare the trip, the donation from Mere Plantations, and a contract to advise the company. He also failed to mention the benefits he was receiving when approaching ministers on behalf of the firm.
The cross-party committee, whose findings have been endorsed by Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, advised a five-day suspension for breaching rules on registration, declaration and paid lobbying “on multiple occasions and in multiple ways”.
The report into the MPs behaviour found that Bridgen had ‘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’.
It also said that the MP for North West Leicestershire had questioned the Standard Commissioner’s integrity ‘on the basis of wholly unsubstantiated and false allegations, and attempted improperly to influence the House’s standards processes’.
Bridgen questioned whether his unfavourable view of Boris Johnson, would influence Stone’s findings.
He wrote in an email: “I was distressed to hear on a number of occasions an unsubstantiated rumour that your contract as Parliamentary Standards Commissioner is due to end in the coming months and that there are advanced plans to offer you a peerage, potentially as soon as the Prime Minister’s resignation honours list.
“There is also some suggestion amongst colleagues that those plans are dependent upon arriving at the ‘right’ outcomes when conducting parliamentary standards investigations.”
It’s been recommended that Bridgen be suspended for a total of five day. The report said he should be: “Suspended from the service of the House for two sitting days. In respect of Mr Bridgen’s completely unacceptable attack upon the integrity of the Commissioner, we recommend that he is suspended from the service of the House for a further three sitting days. He should also apologise to the House and to the Commissioner by means of a personal statement, the terms of which should be agreed in advance by Mr Speaker and the Chair of the Committee.”
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.