Former ministers suspended after lobbying claim

THREE FORMER Cabinet ministers were last night suspended by the Labour Party over allegations they were prepared to use their position to influence government policy for cash.

Party sources said that Stephen Byers, Geoff Hoon, and Patricia Hewitt had been suspended pending a full investigation.

The decision was said to have been taken by chief whip Nick Brown and general secretary Ray Collins following the screening of last night's Channel 4 Dispatchesdocumentary.

The three were secretly filmed by an undercover reporter discussing the possibility of working for what they thought was an American lobby company.

The move follows angry scenes at last night’s weekly meeting at Westminster of the Parliamentary Labour Party where a number of MPs demanded action against them.

Former transport secretary Stephen Byers told an undercover Channel 4 Dispatchesreporter, posing as an American lobbyist, that he had persuaded the government not to penalise National Express after it had to give up a mainline rail franchise.

In the House of Lords yesterday, the current transport secretary, Andrew Adonis, said it was “complete fantasy” that Mr Byers had influenced his actions, insisting that he had taken every action that was legally possible against the company.

Receiving support from both Labour and many Conservative peers, Lord Adonis said: “I have nothing for which I owe an explanation to this House or any apology. The fact that comments that are entirely unsubstantiated have been made should not, I hope, reflect upon my own personal conduct in this matter.”

Mr Byers, along with former defence secretary Geoff Hoon and former health secretary Patricia Hewitt, were among six MPs shown in the programme to have touted for lobbying work.

In one discussion with the undercover reporter, Mr Byers, who is now set to lose the Labour whip, is seen to boast that he had persuaded the business secretary, Peter Mandelson, to soften food labelling rules on behalf of the supermarket Tesco.

Mr Byers, who stood down from the cabinet in 2002, yesterday asked for the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, John Lyon, to investigate his actions, and whether he was willing to lobby without declaring his actions.

Under the existing rules, former ministers are barred from taking up outside interests for two years after they leave office, unless they have been approved, while all MPs are supposed to detail outside activity in the House of Commons’ register of interests.- (Additional reporting PA)