MP suspended for blatant lobbying... responds in a measured and mature manner by saying that the investigation was against natural justice and blames it for his wife's suicide.
And I sort of understand his feeling of injustice, not because he's not guilty - I'm pretty fucking sure he is - but because about half his peers are doing the same or worse and getting away with it. Though he can hardly say that can he?
But really, to me, any MP that is employed by a company while being in parliament is an automatic walking conflict of interest.
For starters, most people who work a normal nine-to-five or equivalent don't have time to also hold two or three non-exec directorships or consulting roles at the same time, how do so many of those who are supposed to be representing their constituents and running the country - fairly important and time-consuming jobs one would think - manage to squeeze in so many?
Well, they will answer, it's cos each job only involves attending one meeting every three months and thus it doesn't impinge on our mission to fuck up the country and rob it blind as quickly as possible, which you have to admit we are delivering pretty well".
And this leads very naturally on to the next question, which is, if these guys are only working for companies for a few hours a year, how come the companies are so happy to pay so much for them to do it? And the answer as we all know is cos they are buying influence. They all do it, everyone knows it wrong and nobody will ever do anything about it cosif they did they would have to give up all their cosy and well remunerated non-exec jobs. Just don't overstep the mark as blatantly as this bozo and you're made for life. It's all just so depressing.
https://www.theguardian.com/politic...rson-faces-suspension-breaking-lobbying-rules