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LONDON — The U.K.’s ruling Conservative Party has suspended the whip from MP Scott Benton, after undercover footage showed him offering to lobby ministers on behalf of gambling investors.
As part of an investigation by the Times newspaper, Benton — a backbench MP elected in 2019 — was offered a paid advisory role in a fake company by reporters posing as gambling industry investors.
In the secretly-filmed footage, the MP offered to ask questions in parliament, leak a confidential policy document or “call in favors” from parliamentary colleagues on behalf of the gambling industry ‘investors’. He also said he had “easy access” to government ministers if the fake firm needed urgent answers to questions.
In a statement, Benton admitted he met with two individuals claiming to represent a “company offering me an expert advisory role.”
“After this meeting, I was asked to forward my CV and some other personal details. I did not do so as I was concerned that what was being asked of me was not within parliamentary rules,” he added.
After Benton contacted the standards commissioner, a spokesperson for Tory Chief Whip Simon Hart told the Times that the MP had had the party whip suspended “whilst an investigation is ongoing”.
The U.K. parliament’s code of conduct bans MPs from lobbying in return for payment.
The rules around lobbying were tightened up in February, following the Owen Paterson scandal which saw the Tory MP quit parliament after a House of Commons probe found he broke its rules on paid lobbying.
