Boris Johnson has been accused of delivering “one rule for them and one rule for the rest of us” ahead of a Conservative bid to save a Tory ex-minister from an immediate House of Commons suspension.
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner attacked the prime minister over his support for an overhaul of MPs’ standards rules after it was recommended that former environment secretary Owen Paterson be given a 30-day suspension for breaching lobbying regulations.
MPs are later on Wednesday due to vote on whether to approve the punishment for Mr Paterson. But the North Shropshire MP could be saved after Mr Johnson lent his support to a bid by his Conservative colleagues to have the case against him reconsidered.
Quizzing Mr Johnson during Prime Minister’s Questions, ahead of the Commons vote on Mr Paterson’s suspension, Ms Rayner accused the Tories of attempting to “change the rules to allow cash for access”.
“If it was a police officer, a teacher, a doctor, we would expect the independent process to be followed and not changed after the verdict,” she said as she deputised for Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who is isolating after testing positive for COVID-19 last week.
“It’s one rule for them and one rule for the rest of us.”
Ms Rayner referred to the case of Delyn MP Rob Roberts, who was found by an independent panel earlier this year to have sexually harassed a member of his staff.
“When a Conservative member was found guilty of sexual harassment but let off on a loophole, they said the rules couldn’t be changed after the event,” she added.
“So they can’t change the rules to stop sexual harassment, but they can change the rules to allow cash for access. Why is the prime minister making it up as he goes along?”
Ms Rayner claimed that when Conservatives “break the rules, they just remake the rules” and…
Source : skynews
