Owen Paterson resigns after PM’s U-turn in sleaze row

The MP at the centre of a furious row on how the House of Commons polices its own standards has resigned.

Owen Paterson, who has held the seat of North Shropshire since 1997, announced that he was leaving “the cruel world of politics” after Boris Johnson changed his mind over plans to prevent his suspension.

Yesterday, the prime minister had “smashed convention” by ordering his party to vote against a recommendation by the Commons Select Committee on Standards to suspend the former minister for 30 sitting days for breaking lobbying rules, said the Daily Mail.

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While some Tories rebelled, the amendment to pause Paterson’s case and reform the rules was narrowly passed by MPs.

‘A colossal misjudgment’

The move “sparked complete chaos”, said the Mail. The existing system for regulating MPs’ conduct was left “in tatters”, with opposition parties vowing to boycott the government’s proposed new system.

One Conservative MP, Angela Richardson, lost her job as a ministerial aide for abstaining, as others voiced their embarrassment. Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake said it looked like “a moving of the goalposts”, while Father of the House, Tory MP Sir Peter Bottomley, called it “a dark day for any faith in the integrity of our democracy”.

Jill Mortimer, who won the Hartlepool by-election for the Tories in May, said: “This was a colossal misjudgment; it should not have been whipped.”

Convenient timing

Others questioned No. 10’s motives. “Three times Boris Johnson has been investigated by the Commons’ standards watchdog, which is more than any other UK MP in the last three years,” wrote Rowena Mason in The Guardian this morning.

Ostensibly, the plan to create a new Conservative-led body of MPs to challenge decisions by the standards committee was “to save Owen Paterson’s bacon”. But with a fourth possible inquiry to come over the funding of his Downing Street flat refurbishment, “some are raising eyebrows about the timing of Johnson’s move to undermine and overhaul the whole standards system”, she continued.

Research by Insider found that 22 Tory MPs who had been investigated or punished by parliament’s watchdog joined the vote to overhaul it yesterday. Even Paterson, who strongly denies that he broke the rules, voted for the amendment rather than recuse himself.

‘Political minefield’

Paterson argued that the report into his actions contained “factual errors” and the investigation contributed to the suicide of his wife, Rose, last year.

He maintains that he was acting to protect the public and raise serious issues about food contamination while working as a paid consultant for Randox, a clinical diagnostics company, and Lynn’s Country Foods, a meat processor and distributor.

Last night he told Sky News that he “wouldn’t hesitate” to do the same again. This “victory lap” hardly helped win over the doubters, said Katy Balls in The Spectator.

Downing Street had said the changes were needed to create a fairer system, in particular allowing MPs the right of appeal.

But Balls concluded that the fact that so many politicians, including Johnson, “could benefit from a rule change on standards makes this a political minefield”.

The U-turn

By 11am this morning, under growing pressure, the government signalled a U-turn. Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg admitted that the proposed changes to the system would not be able to go ahead without cross-party support and that they would have to rethink the plans.

Downing Street said MPs would be given a fresh vote on Paterson’s fate “as soon as possible”. But this afternoon, Paterson “jumped before he was pushed”, said Jon Craig at Sky News.

In a statement, Paterson said: “The last two years have been an indescribable nightmare for my family and me. My integrity, which I hold very dear, has been repeatedly and publicly questioned. I maintain that I am totally innocent of what I have been accused of and I acted at all times in the interests of public health and safety.”

He continued: “Far, far worse than having my honesty questioned was, of course, the suicide of my beloved and wonderful wife, Rose. She was everything to my children and me. We miss her everyday and the world will always be grey, sad and ultimately meaningless without her.”