UK politics live: MPs expected to get new vote on suspending Owen Paterson following government U-turn

Published on Novembre 4, 2021

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8.25am EDT
08:25

This is from Mark Harper, a former Tory chief whip.

Mark Harper
(@Mark_J_Harper)

This is one of the most unedifying episodes I have seen in my 16 years as a Member of Parliament.

My colleagues should not have been instructed, from the very top, to vote for this.

This must not happen again. https://t.co/8a1kXGcHwA

November 4, 2021

Harper was one of the 13 Tory rebels who defied the whip and voted against the Andrea Leadsom amendment yesterday.

There were actually 14 full Tory rebels yesterday (if you define a full rebel as someone who votes against the whip, instead of just abstaining). Sir Peter Bottomley, the father of the Commons, abstained on the Leadsom amendment, but in the second vote (on the main motion, as amended) he voted against.

8.19am EDT
08:19

Starmer accuses Johnson of ‘leading his troops through the sewer’

Sir Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of “leading his troops through the sewer”, the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg reports.

Laura Kuenssberg
(@bbclaurak)

Starmer accuses the PM of ‘leading his troops through the sewer’ – says what’s happened in the last 24 hours is ‘corruption, and corruption from the very top’

November 4, 2021

Laura Kuenssberg
(@bbclaurak)

Starmer also challenges govt to hold the vote on Paterson’s suspension on Monday

November 4, 2021

8.16am EDT
08:16

From the FT’s Robert Shrimsley

robert shrimsley
(@robertshrimsley)

The one thing you have to give Johnson is that he does know when to stop digging. Doesn’t excuse the fact that he did it in the first place but not many leaders are quite so quick to change horses once they know they’ve backed a loser

November 4, 2021

8.13am EDT
08:13

David Lammy, the shadow justice secretary, has said the government’s U-turn over Commons standards is too late.

David Lammy
(@DavidLammy)

Too damn late! The public have seen the pigs at the trough and the level of outrage at the government’s odious arrogance is palpable.

Owen Paterson: Government signals U-turn less than 24 hours after MPs block fellow Tory’s suspensionhttps://t.co/N9UCr9XwB0

November 4, 2021

8.12am EDT
08:12

Tory MP Angela Richardson reinstated as PPS less than 24 hours after being dismissed for rebellion on Paterson vote

The Conservative MP Angela Richardson has been reinstated as PPS (parliamentary private secretary) to Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary. She was dismissed last night from the post after she abstained last night in the vote on the Owen Paterson motion, instead of voting for the Andrea Leadsom in line with the three-line whip.

Angela Richardson MP
(@AJRichardsonMP)

Pleased to be reappointed to my role as PPS to Michael Gove. Busy department and work to get on with. #LevellingUp

November 4, 2021

8.06am EDT
08:06

In the Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, has granted an application for an emergency debate on the parliamentary standards system that will take place on Monday.

The application came from the Lib Dem chief whip, Wendy Chamberlain. She told MPs:

The government’s decision not just to meddle in an independent process but then to whip Conservative members to get what they wanted is one of the worst over-reaches of executive power that this house has seen in its history.

8.01am EDT
08:01

Dorries says she wants to speed up introducing of criminal sanctions for social media bosses under online safety bill

Social media executives could be held criminally liable for safety breaches on their platforms within months of the online safety bill coming into effect, Nadine Dorries, the culture secretary, has said. As PA Media reports, Dorries made the disclosure in evidence to the committee considering the draft bill this morning. PA reports

Dorries told the committee that she wants to accelerate the introduction of personal liability sanctions for company managers to spark a faster response to the threat of online harms.

The draft bill includes personal criminal liability sanctions for executives which can be introduced two years after the implementation of the bill.

However, Dorries said it was “nonsense” to give firms two years to change, confirming she was looking at “three to six months” for criminal liability to be introduced.

“So, to the platforms, take note now – it will not be two years,” she told the committee.

“We are looking at truncating that to a very much shorter timeframe and that’s one of the areas as secretary of state I want to go further in this Bill.

“I think it’s just a nonsense that platforms have been given two years to make themselves ready for what would be criminal action.

“They know what they’re doing now, they actually have the ability to put right what they’re doing wrong now, they have the ability now to abide by their own terms and conditions – they could remove harmful algorithms tomorrow.”

Under the current proposals, tech firms that fail to protect their users from harmful content face fines of up to 10% of their global turnover – which could run into billions of pounds for the largest platforms – as well as having access to their sites blocked.

During her evidence, Dorries also criticised Facebook’s recent company rebrand to Meta and its plans to work on the virtual world known as the metaverse, saying that while its boss Mark Zuckerberg and communications boss Nick Clegg want to “take off into the metaverse” they should instead “stay in the real world”.

She said: “Now I believe we heard that they’re [Facebook] putting 10 or 20,000 engineers on to the metaverse – put those 10 or 20,000 engineers now on to abiding by your terms and conditions and to removing your harmful algorithms because if you don’t, this bill will be watertight.”

Dorries also said the bill was “possibly the most important piece of legislation to pass through parliament” in her time as an MP, calling it a “novel” piece of legislations that was “groundbreaking” and “extremely important”.

7.50am EDT
07:50

Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow leader of the Commons, has issued a statement saying the government must schedule a vote on suspending Owen Paterson. She said:

The government’s pathetic attempt to hide from their actions doesn’t fix anything. Last night, they voted to allow corruption to take place unimpeded at the heart of British politics.

MPs must now vote to uphold the sanctions against Owen Paterson. Any other result will allow Boris Johnson to create one rule for Tory MPs, another for everyone else.

7.46am EDT
07:46

Bryant says it was “completely inappropriate” for Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, to effectively call for the resignation of Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, this morning. (See 9.27am.) He says she is very fair and very robust, and that he supports her 100%. He says he expects her to stay in post until her contract ends, in December next year.

7.43am EDT
07:43

Bryant says he has long been in favour of allowing MPs to make an appeal against the punishment proposed by the standards committee. But he says it is not clear who would hear that appeal.

7.41am EDT
07:41

Standards committee chair calls for new vote on suspending Owen Paterson on Monday

At the Institute for Government Chris Bryant, the chair of the Commons standards committee, is now taking part in a panel discussion, as part of its one-day conference on ethical standards in government.

Asked what should happen next in the Owen Paterson case, Bryant says there should be a vote in the Commons on Monday on the proposal to suspend him.

He says he thinks that may be what Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, was signalling in the Commons earlier, but he says he is not sure. (Rees-Mogg was being oblique on this issue.)

And he says what Rees-Mogg was saying to MPs earlier was the opposite of what he said in the debate yesterday. Perhaps Rees-Mogg did not understand the motion, Bryant suggests.

7.34am EDT
07:34

Here is my colleague Robert Booth‘s story about the speech earlier by Lord Evans, chair of the committee on standards in public life.

And here is the full text of the speech.

7.11am EDT
07:11

MPs expected to get new vote on suspending Owen Paterson following government U-turn

On Sky News Sam Coates says he has been briefed that the government is now planning to get MPs to vote on a new motion on Owen Paterson, proposing that he should be suspended for 30 days (as the standards committee recommended). This time it would be expected to pass.

Sam Coates Sky
(@SamCoatesSky)

NEW: There WILL be a vote, probably before recess, on Owen Paterson being suspended for 30 days

This is a “full fat” uturn, I understand

November 4, 2021

According to the Telegraph’s Tony Diver, Paterson may have miscalculated with a hubristic media round yesterday. This seems to be a factor in No 10 deciding to cut him loose.

Tony Diver
(@Tony_Diver)

Feeling in gvt is that Owen Paterson’s media round last night was far too strong and undermined the support Tories had given him yesterday.

There is talk now of Paterson dealing with the lobbying allegations himself…by fighting a by-election to get a new mandate from voters.

November 4, 2021

That media round included an interview with the Daily Telegraph in which Paterson said that Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, and members of the standards committee should resign. He told the paper:

Sadly they have not done a good job and come up with a rotten report which is full of inaccuracies. As far as I’m concerned, they all have to go.

Updated
at 7.27am EDT

7.04am EDT
07:04

Chris Bryant, the Labour chair of the Commons standards committee, says parliament is in a “quagmire”. He suggests that one solutioin might be for his committee to produce a new report on Owen Paterson. He says he thinks it would say the same as the old one.

He also stresses the importance of using moderate languate, and expresses his regret about what happened to Peter Bone’s office. (See 11am.)

Rees-Mogg welcomes what Bryant said about the importance of using moderate language. But he suggests Bryant was not doing this himself in his Today interview this morning when he compared what happened in the Commons yesterday to something that might happen in Russia.

Referring to what happened yesterday, Bryant told Today: “That is not what we do in this country, that is what they do in Russia,” he said. “It’s a perversion of justice.”

Updated
at 7.20am EDT

7.00am EDT
07:00

Rees-Mogg says Commons standards rules should not be changed retrospectively

Peter Bone (Con) says he is not clear what is happening to the Owen Paterson case.

And he says this morning his office was vandalised because of his vote to support the government yesterday.

Rees-Mogg says that, while there support in the Commons for reforming the system, there is a strong feeling in the Commons that “this should not be based on single case or applied retrospectively”.

May I just reiterate what I said at the beginning of these proceedings, that while there are strong feelings on both sides of the house that there is a need for an appeal process, there is equally a strong feeling this should not be based on a single case or applied retrospectively. I fear last night’s debate conflated the individual case with the general concern, this link needs to be broken.

That implies that government may revert to supporting Paterson’s suspension.

Updated
at 7.22am EDT

6.56am EDT
06:56

Rees-Mogg says it would be “idle to pretend that there are not concerns about the [disciplinary system for MPs]”. But he says this must be done on a cross-party basis.

6.53am EDT
06:53

From LBC’s Ben Kentish

Ben Kentish
(@BenKentish)

Government source: “We need a solution on finding an appeal system but the committee as voted for yesterday is unviable.”

November 4, 2021

6.50am EDT
06:50

No 10 ditches plan for new Tory-led committee to review Owen Paterson case, Rees-Mogg reveals

This is what Jacob Rees-Mogg told MPs about the partial U-turn in relation to the new committee being set up to consider reforms to the disciplinary process for MPs.

I am aware that last night’s vote has created a certain amount of controversy.

It is important that standards in this house are done on a cross-party basis.

The house voted very clearly yesterday to show that it is worried about the process of handling these complaints and that we would like an appeals system, but the change would need to be on a cross-party basis and that is clearly not the case.

While there is a very strong feeling on both sides of the house that there is a need for an appeals process, there is equally a strong feeling that this should not be based on a single case or apply retrospectively.

I fear last night’s debate conflated an individual case with the general concern. This link needs to be broken.

Therefore I and others will be looking to work on a cross-party basis to achieve improvements in our system for future cases.

We will bring forward more detailed proposals once there have been cross-party discussions.

Updated
at 6.54am EDT

6.47am EDT
06:47

In the Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg is now responding to Thangam Debbonaire, the shadow leader of the Commons, who asked various questions about what is happening to the review of standards.

He says a committee cannot work without opposition members.

(Parliament voted yesterday to set up a new committee, chaired by John Whittingdale, to review the standards system. But Labour and the SNP said they would not take up their seats.)

Rees-Mogg says he hopes the opposition parties will not join in trying to set up a new system. He cites the Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme, which was set up to consider complaints about MPs mistreating their staff, as a possible model.