[arista]

[A Tory MP should be suspended from
the Commons for suggesting
the standards commissioner's
potential peerage depended on ruling against
him over lobbying breaches,
the Standards Committee has recommended

Andrew Bridgen should be suspended
for five sitting days,
the parliamentary committee that
oversees the work of the standards commissioner said.
The committee found the MP had breached
the Code of Conduct by making multiple
approaches to ministers and public officials
on behalf of Mere Plantations,
a Cheshire-based teak reforestation company
with forests in Ghana for which he was initially
paid £12,000 a year as an adviser.

He failed to register his interest in the
company in the time frame stipulated
by the code, with the committee saying
he had a "very cavalier" attitude to the rules.

The committee also found Mr Bridgen,
the MP for North West Leicestershire since 2010,
had attempted to improperly influence
Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone
during her investigation into his lobbying.

He emailed the commissioner shortly
after the investigation started and implied
she could be swayed with a peerage,
as he claimed he heard a "rumour" she would
only receive one if she ruled against him
because he was an outspoken critic of
then prime minister Boris Johnson.

Mr Bridgen faces
a suspension of two days for three breaches
of the MPs' code of conduct and a further three for
the "unacceptable attack upon
the integrity" on Ms Stone.
MPs will now have to vote on whether
they accept that recommendation.]

https://news.sky.com/story/tory-mp-a...mends-12737060