Andrew Bridgen apologises for breaching MPs' rules

North West Leicestershire MP Andrew Bridgen has apologised to Parliament for breaching the MPs' code of conduct.

Mr Bridgen was suspended from the House of Commons for five days, after he was found to have shown a "careless and cavalier" attitude to the rules.

Addressing MPs following his suspension, he said: "I should have been more alert to the rules."

He also apologised for a letter to the standards commissioner, which he said he now realised was "inappropriate".

In November, the Commons Standards Committee ruled Mr Bridgen had breached rules by failing to declare his financial interests in Mere Plantations when writing to ministers about the company.

The Cheshire-based firm had donated money to Mr Bridgen's local party and funded a trip to Ghana.

The cross-party group of MPs also described Mr Bridgen's letter to Kathryn Stone - who has since left the post of standards commissioner - as an "unacceptable attack".

Mr Bridgen currently sits as an independent MP after being suspended from the Conservative Party in Parliament for posting a tweet that compared vaccines to the Holocaust.