Standards Policing MPs is a duty not a crusade for Bryant

Chris Bryant is so fed up being lobbied by MPs on behalf of their colleagues that he has decided to report the next one who sidles up for a quiet word – straight to the parliamentary commissioner for standards.

- Heather Stewart- Political editor

Bryant, whose cross-party committee polices MPs’ conduct, describes an increase in attempts to influence due process in recent months, culminating in Boris Johnson’s extraordinary botched attempt to overturn the verdict against Owen Paterson.

“It’s: ‘Chris. Can I just bend your ear…?’ Absolutely not!” he said. “It has happened quite a lot over the last year, most notably over the Owen Paterson case but also a couple of others. And in the past, my view has been: ‘Right, I’m just going to tell you you’re not allowed to lobby.’ My new version is: the moment anybody lobbies me I will simply report it to the commissioner and then the commissioner can decide what to do with it .”

The commissioner, Kathryn Stone, investigates MPs’ conduct . But it is Bryant’s committee that then decides what sanctions they should face, with MPs given the final say – though this is usually a formality.

Since Johnson’s attempt to clear Paterson opened the way to a maelstrom of allegations about MPs’ financial interests, Bryant has found himself cast as the scourge of the government.

The Labour MP’s fiery speech in the Paterson debate was heard in a silence rare for the House of Commons, as he warned that if MPs followed Johnson’s lead, Paterson’s name would become a byword for wrongdoing.