A cabinet minister has questioned the future of parliament’s sleaze investigator after her recommendation of a 30-day suspension for a Conservative MP was blocked by the prime minister and his Tory colleagues.
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told Sky News that it was “difficult” to see a future for Kathryn Stone, the independent parliamentary commissioner for standards.
It comes after her recommendation of a suspension for North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson, after he was found to have breached lobbying rules during his £110,000 a year private sector work, was blocked by Conservative MPs.
In a controversial House of Commons vote on Wednesday, which saw Boris Johnson’s government accused of “corruption”, Tory MPs passed a motion in favour of ignoring Ms Stone’s recommendation.
They also supported the creation of a new Conservative-majority committee to look into a complete overhaul of parliament’s standards rules and to reconsider Mr Paterson’s case.
Three of those Tory MPs to vote in favour of rethink of the current standards rules are currently under investigation by Ms Stone themselves.
Asked about Ms Stone’s future following the action by his fellow Tory MPs, Mr Kwarteng told Sky News: “I think it’s difficult to see what the future of the commissioner is, given the fact that we’re reviewing the process and we’re overturning and trying to reform this whole process.
“But it’s up to the commissioner to decide her position.”
Pressed on whether he was calling for Ms Stone to resign, the business secretary added: “It’s up to her to do that, it’s up to anyone where they’ve made a judgement and people have sought to change that to consider their position, that’s a natural thing.
“But I’m not saying she should resign.”
Ms Stone’s term as commissioner is due to finish in December next year. After Wednesday’s Commons vote, her office said she would serve her full term.
Dave Penman, the general secretary of the FDA union for public service employees, accused the government of “a blatant attempt to remove the last vestiges of independent oversight”.
“After months of being stabbed in the back, the independent commissioner for standards has refused to resign,” he posted on Twitter, in response to Mr Kwarteng’s comments on Ms Stone’s future,
“Now the government resorts to stabbing her in the front.”
When the Commons vote result was announced, opposition MPs shouted “shame” at the Conservative benches.
But Mr Kwarteng said he did not feel shame “at all” about the move to save Mr Paterson from immediate suspension.
“It’s not about the rights and wrongs of what Owen Paterson said or did or how he was paid,” he said.
“I think the process is something that we want to look at, the fact is he had no right of appeal, and we feel that – in terms of parliament – people should have a right of appeal as they do in most employments throughout this country.”
The business secretary added that MPs had been discussing parliament’s disciplinary process “for years” and claimed Conservatives had voted in favour of a “more rigorous process”.
“We’ve been talking about holding MPs to account, having the highest standards in public life, ways in which we can improve those standards and make people more accountable,” Mr Kwarteng said.
“We’ve been talking about these sorts of things for many years now.
“And it so happens that yesterday, we passed a vote – a narrow vote, I think – in favour of actually trying to get a more rigorous process where people could have a right of appeal, and that’s what my understanding of what happened yesterday in parliament was all about.”
But Labour Party chair Anneliese Dodds said the government had had “ample opportunity” to reconsider the standards system prior to the vote on Mr Paterson’s suspension.
“If they wanted to engage in that issue, they’ve had ample opportunity,” she told Sky News.
“I’m afraid now they’re just protecting one of their own and that sends a dreadful message about our politics,
“Boris Johnson has got to look again at this otherwise, I’m afraid, that name of Owen Paterson is going to go down as a byword for dirty, sleazy, corrupt politics.”