The Commons Committee on Standards has recommended Tory MP Andrew Bridgen be suspended for five sitting days, and be forced to apologise to the Commons over multiple breaches of the MP Code of Conduct, including on registering outside earning and paid advocacy. They also describe an email he sent to the Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone as “completely unacceptable behaviour” as he ‘sought assurance’ about a rumour that Stone was shortly to be ennobled provided she arrived “at the ‘right’ outcomes when conducting parliamentary standards investigation[s]”.

The full list of aggravating factors are as follows:

• Mr Bridgen breached the rules of the House on registration, declaration and paid lobbying on multiple occasions and in multiple ways. (The Committee noted that each of these breaches could have led it to recommend a suspension from the service of the House);
• Mr Bridgen has demonstrated a very cavalier attitude to the rules on registration and declaration of interests, including repeatedly saying that he did not check his own entry in the register;
• Mr Bridgen is an established Member of the House, having been elected in 2010;
• Mr Bridgen’s email to the Commissioner called her integrity into question on the basis of wholly unsubstantiated and false allegations, and attempted improperly to influence the House’s standards processes.

While there were some mitigating factors, such as seeking alternative means of funding for a trip to Ghana before accepting funding from Mere Plantations, and reflecting on his conduct before the committee, they still recommended a suspension of five sitting days.

“The Committee recommended that Mr Bridgen is suspended from the service of the House for a total period of 5 sitting days. This is the sum of a recommended suspension of 2 sitting days for the breaches of Paragraph 12 and 14 of the Code of Conduct, and a further 3 sitting days’ suspension for a “completely unacceptable attack upon the integrity of the Commissioner” – amounting to a breach of paragraph 20 of the Code.

The Committee also recommended that Mr Bridgen should apologise to the House and to the Commissioner by means of a personal statement.”

For Andrew’s clarification, no you cannot submit a letter of no confidence in the Standards Committee…