THE LATEST scandal to taint MPs has left British voters believing politicians are “just sleazy pigs out for gain”, said Tory party leader David Cameron.
In this most recent instalment of political disgrace, former ministers were fooled into touting for business from a fake American public affairs firm.
Former ministers Stephen Byers, Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt, all of whom lost the Labour Party whip weeks from retirement as MPs, are to be investigated by parliamentary commissioner for standards John Lyon.
The British government again refused to launch an investigation into claims – since retracted by Mr Byers and Ms Hewitt – that they influenced official decisions, saying there was “not a scintilla of evidence” to back this up.
Mr Cameron said he would increase the prohibition on former ministers working as political lobbyists to two years after they left office and would require they obtained clearance for 10 years afterwards before taking up posts.
“Our political system is looking ever more ragged and broken. It depends on public trust, and that trust is in danger of disappearing altogether,” Mr Cameron said.
Rejecting the view that politicians were “sleazy pigs”, Mr Cameron said: “We’re not, actually . . . and a new government, a new prime minister, a new parliament could make a difference.”
The speedy withdrawal of the Labour whip from the three was an illustration of their colleagues’ fury, combined with a fear this latest disgrace could damage their own re-election hopes in an election expected in May. The fact that Mr Byers was an archloyalist of former prime minister Tony Blair and Mr Hoon and Ms Hewitt were involved in January’s shambolic attempt to remove present prime minister Gordon Brown, also helps to explain the alacrity of the move.
Mr Cameron continued to push for the inquiry rejected by the government. He said although Mr Byers said he had not lobbied transport secretary Lord Andrew Adonis, the peer said he had done so. “Stephen Byers said he called Peter Mandelson [secretary of state for business] and got regulations changed. Lord Mandelson said he did not. That’s why we need a proper inquiry into all this.
“We do know that the policies referred to did actually change, so we need to see the minutes of meetings, the e-mails, the telephone logs, those things, to rapidly establish what did actually happen.”
The three former Labour ministers and Tory MP John Butterfill were secretly filmed by a Channel 4 Dispatchesundercover reporter, who claimed she was setting up a London arm of an American public affairs company.
Ironically, Andrew McKay, husband of Conservative MP Julie Kirkbride who raised the alarm about the approaches, is to take up a lobbying post with a London firm once he leaves parliament in a few weeks.
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Meanwhile, Mr Cameron made clear that Mr Butterfill, the only Tory MP filmed in the programme, would not be getting a seat in the House of Lords when he retired. “I can tell you that’s not going to happen,” he said.
* The online version of this article was amended on April 1st, 2010