LONDON: Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced pressure to appear before British lawmakers debating the standards system Monday, as days of sleaze and cronyism claims against his government intensified with new revelations.
MPs will hold an emergency afternoon debate amid calls for an independent inquiry into the mounting allegations of apparent corruption and inappropriate conduct within the Conservative party and government.
It follows outrage at efforts last week to overhaul parliament’s internal disciplinary process which would have prevented the 30-day suspension of a Tory MP found to have committed an “egregious” breach of lobbying rules.
Although Johnson abandoned the unprecedented move within 24 hours — prompting the lawmaker, Owen Paterson, to resign from parliament — it threw the spotlight on a raft of allegations around MPs’ behaviour.
This heightened over the weekend with a report the Conservatives have been “systematically” awarding seats in the unelected House of Lords, parliament’s upper chamber which scrutinises legislation, to its high-value donors.
An investigation by The Sunday Times and Open Democracy found almost all of the party’s 16 different treasurers over the past two decades were offered seats after increasing their donations to more than £3 million.
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