Say Sleaze: The Return of the Lobbying scandal?

This week, we have observed the return of the one word which stigmatises the whole basis of the confidence of British voters in the politicians in Westminster, 'Sleaze.'
Over the years, we have seen the big political stories such as cash for honours and cash for questions which has ruined the reputations of politicians from a number of political parties.

It has been revealed, by undercover reporters from the Sunday Times, that three members of the House of Lords were prepared to raise questions in Parli
ament in return for cash from companies, in this case, a South Korean energy firm.

MP's & Peers are allowed to speak on behalf of lobbyists.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with big companies attempting to get close to politicians, the representatives of big industries have an interest in lobbying politicians on issues such as changes to the law, for example, which would see the companies of which the lobbyists are a part, succeed further and grow. This is a perfect example of the operation of democracy because people, whether they are individuals or members of a company have the rights to push those in office or those with influence on the big issues which affect them or their businesses.

The problem in this case, is that the three politicians which have been named by the Sunday Times apparently showed them offering to host functions in the House of Lords, as well as lobby Ministers in return for money.
This is strictly forbidden by rules which are regulated by the Parliamentary Code of Conduct and states that politiciians cannot receive payment as a result of the positions they take on behalf of the lobbyists.


All three Peers deny breaking the rules.

The Ulster Unionist peer, Lord Laird and the two Labour Peers, Lord MacKenzie and Lord Cunningham have referred themselves to the House of Lords Comissioner for standards. Whilst an investigation is being carried out, the Labour Party has rightly taken swift action and suspended both of their Peers, and Lord Laird has resigned the Ulster Unionist whip.
It remains to be seen whether the three Peers will be subject to further action as an investigation is being carried out into the conduct which has appeared to have been carried out in the video recordings of the Sunday Times, but it must be re stated by the Prime Minister and all other party leaders that this kind of self-interest demonstrated by members of all political parties, will not be tolerated and swift disciplinary action will be taken against any MP or member of the House of Lords who seeks to make a profit out of raising an issue within Parliament.

As with any story of potential of misconduct in Westminster, there are those who call for a change in the rules to ensure that this kind of behaviour cannot happen again. The Adjournment does not support any change in the rules, to call for such a change is merely reactionary, to make it seem like something is being done to prevent this kind of behaviour. Both the House of Lords Code of Conduct and the MP's Code of Conduct make it clear that members are not permitted to accept payment for raising question in Parliament, so why is there a need to change the rules? This call for change indicates that there is an ever growing obsession to fix what is not broken. There will always be people in Parliament who will seek to bend the rules, but when they are caught then they face the consequences.