Cheat sheet: The sleaze scandal gripping Westminster
Owen Paterson and Sir Geoffrey Cox are in good company in the sleaze scandal. For allegations of lobbying, please welcome Ruby MP Mark Pawsey, who as the chairman of a packaging lobby group has repeatedly tried to erode environmental laws. His motto? “It is not the packaging manufacturer that is the polluter – people are”.
Next on the list, ex-Defence minister Philip Dunne, who somehow forgot to disclose his job with an aerospace company while lobbying Parliament for more military spending. Alun Cairns, another Tory, advises a diagnostic company that was awarded an important contract for lateral flow testing after hiring him.
Then there’s the list of MPs taking advantage of a loophole and renting out their own homes while using properties paid with taxpayers’ money. To name a few, Philip Davies, Robert Goodwill and John Whittingdale, who all happen to be Conservatives.
Then of course, there’s the one in eight MPs hiring their own flesh and blood to staff their offices.