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The disgraced minister promptly resigned as an MP, clearing the way for a by-election in his safe Tory seat. And just hours after Evans spoke this morning, the government abruptly reversed its position – abandoning its attempt to rebuild the Commons standards system, and leaving the way open for MPs to vote on the Commons Standards Committee’s proposed sanction: that Paterson should be suspended from the Commons for 30 days. In response to the government’s plans – which passed the Commons comfortably, despite a modest rebellion among Tory MPs – Opposition parties refused to join the committee intended to design the new system. Yet it remains true that the perceptions of the ethical standards of ministers and MPs remains poor.” Screeching U-turn “The UK can act against corruption internationally by leading by example at home. People are looking at us and we can’t assume that our good name will be maintained unless we act in accordance with that,” he said. “We should not take for granted that this country has low levels of corruption.
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The government’s attempt to dismantle the systems overseeing MPs’ behaviour, Evans warned, risked undermining the UK’s reputation both at home and abroad. Referring to the seven Nolan principles applied to public office holders in the UK for more than 25 years, he said ministers and MPs are expected to show leadership in upholding ethical standards in public life, adding: “I fail to see how yesterday’s actions in any way meet that test.” Corruption warningĮvans took aim at the Conservative party’s attempts to undermine the watchdog commissioner behind the investigation into Paterson’s conduct, Kathryn Stone, along with its proposal that the committee established to design a replacement system have an in-built Tory majority. “This extraordinary proposal is deeply at odds with the best traditions of British democracy,” he commented. “It cannot be right to propose an overhaul of the entire regulatory system in order to postpone or prevent sanctions in a very serious case of paid lobbying by an MP,” he added. It’s not been presented in that way, but I think you’d have to be extremely naive to imagine that this was not a politically motivated set of decisions.” Speaking at an online Institute for Government conference, Lord Evans, a former intelligence chief now serving as chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said: “People recognise this as an attack on standards. The government yesterday successfully whipped Tory MPs to vote for a Commons motion that would have both led to the replacement of the current system – with a cross-party group of MPs working up a successor – and paused action against Owen Paterson, a Tory MP and former minister found guilty of “egregious” rule-breaking by lobbying ministers on behalf of private businesses. The chair of the UK’s public standards watchdog today condemned the government’s attempt to reshape the system charged with policing MPs’ behaviour, calling it “a very serious and damaging moment for parliament and for public standards”.
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Lord Evans said this week's vote in the House of Commons to halt an MP's suspension for paid lobbying points to a systematic failure of ethical standards