Owen Paterson vote: Tories are wallowing in sleaze, says Sir Keir Starmer

Labour has accused the Conservatives of "wallowing in sleaze", after the government backed a vote to change the system for policing MPs - blocking the suspension of a former Tory minister.

Owen Paterson was found to have broken lobbying rules, but says he was not given the chance to clear his name.

Writing in the Guardian, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Tory MPs had voted "to let off one of their own".

The business secretary said changes were needed to make the system open.

Labour, the SNP and Lib Dems voted against the plans on Wednesday, along with 13 Conservative MPs, while dozens of Tories abstained. But it was carried by 18 votes after a heated Commons debate.

In his article, Sir Keir said that Tory Party's failure to uphold "the codes that govern public life" would "further undermine public faith in politics at a time when we should be trying to restore decency and honesty".

"That the Tories are yet again wallowing in sleaze comes as no surprise," he said.

Sir Keir - who has been isolating after a positive Covid test - also criticised the prime minister, saying "the rot starts at the top".

However, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng defended the government's actions.

"The point of the vote [on Wednesday] wasn't to say whether Owen was in the right or in the wrong. What the vote was doing was to bring some due process to where we are," Mr Kwarteng told ITV's Peston programme.

"We have been discussing this for a while... What we want to do is make an open process where in any workplace in the land you would have a right of appeal."

In a statement after the vote, Mr Paterson said: "After two years of hell, I now have the opportunity to clear my name."

In an interview with the BBC, he thanked the MPs who voted for the overhaul, acknowledging they had "taken a political hit".

"But we will at last now be able to create a proper system, based on the rules of natural justice," he added.

The controversy comes after a committee of MPs recommended Mr Paterson be suspended from the Commons for 30 days, following a damning report into his conduct by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone.

The report said the former Northern Ireland secretary had breached Commons rules by lobbying government bodies for Randox and Lynn's Country Foods, which employed him as a paid consultant for more than £100,000 a year.

It described the MP's actions as "an egregious case of paid advocacy".

The government did not order its MPs to uphold the proposed suspension, which could have led to Mr Paterson facing a by-election in his North Shropshire constituency.

Instead, they were told to back an amendment drawn up by former Conservative cabinet minister Andrea Leadsom to pause his suspension and set up a new Tory-majority committee to look at how investigations are carried out.

Labour has said it will not be taking part in the proposed new committee, while the SNP and Lib Dems also said they would boycott the overhaul.

After the vote not to uphold the committee's recommendation, Ms Stone's office confirmed she would not be resigning as standards commissioner.

Every MP who backed yesterday's move can expect to have it used against them on political leaflets or Facebook campaigns.

There could be serious consequences in Parliament if the opposition parties decide to use this moment to withdraw cooperation on other committees or ways of working.

Some ministers already fear this is an episode that Downing Street may come to regret.

Owen Paterson is adamant that he did nothing wrong, and has been denied natural justice.

But with this Tory response, voters may well come to wonder, what's fair about this?

The Commons standards committee found that Mr Paterson had used his parliamentary office on 16 occasions for meetings relating to his outside business interests and sent two letters relating to business interests on House of Commons-headed notepaper.

However, Mr Paterson denied any wrongdoing, and argued his approaches had been within the rules because he was seeking to alert ministers to defects in safety regulations.

He said the investigation had been "a major contributory factor" in the death of his wife, Rose, who took her own life last year.

Mr Paterson claimed he had been pronounced guilty "without being spoken to" and that "no proper investigation was undertaken".