Tory MP Andrew Bridgen faces suspension over lobbying breaches

The Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen faces suspension from the House of Commons and has been asked to apologise after a cross-party committee found that he repeatedly breached rules on paid lobbying and declaring interests.

The standards committee endorsed findings from Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, that Bridgen broke the MPs’ code of conduct after he approached ministers and officials on behalf of a forestry company that had given him a donation, a visit to Ghana and the offer of an advisory contract.

Bridgen will not face a potential recall petition from his constituents because this is triggered only if MPs are suspended for 10 sitting days or more. His proposed suspension is for five sitting days.

Two of the days were imposed for the breaches of rules on advocacy and interests, considerably less time than the 30-day sanction recommended for illicit lobbying by Owen Paterson, the Conservative MP who stepped down a year ago after a botched attempt by Boris Johnson to save him from punishment.

The other three days of suspension were in response for what the committee said was a “completely unacceptable” attempt by Bridgen, the MP for North West Leicestershire since 2010, to put pressure on Stone. As well as apologising to the Commons, Bridgen should apologise personally, the report said.

It said Bridgen emailed Stone to ask about supposed rumours that the commissioner would accept a peerage from Johnson, and that this was dependent on her “arriving at the ‘right’ outcomes” when conducting parliamentary standards investigations. Bridgen was a noted critic of Johnson.

Stone’s initial investigation found that Bridgen breached rules on registering interests by failing to declare the trip, the donation from Ghana-based Mere Plantations, and a contract to advise the company, a role that ended up being unpaid. He also failed to mention these when he approached ministers on behalf of the firm, she added.

Stone said Bridgen had also broken rules on paid advocacy by initiating five approaches to ministers or officials “which sought to confer a benefit on Mere Plantations”, and in eight other emails to ministers, including Kwasi Kwarteng, Alok Sharma and Jesse Norman.

The standards committee endorsed Stone’s findings, saying that if Bridgen had no plans to take payments from the company, he should have cancelled or amended a contract with them that stated he would be paid £12,000 a year.

The committee’s report found that the MP received three “registrable benefits” in all – the contract for an advisory role, a trip to Ghana in August 2019, and a donation of £5,000 to his local Conservative association.

Bridgen argued that he was just helping a local company that worked with Mere, and that it was thus simply a “constituency interest” that brought him no personal benefits. The committee disagreed with this, saying the MP had breached lobbying rules.

The committee, chaired by the Labour MP Chris Bryant but which has a majority of Tories among its MPs – it also has six lay members – found Bridgen breached the rules “on multiple occasions and in multiple ways” and showed “a very cavalier attitude to the rules on registration and declaration of interests”.

The report quoted Bridgen as telling Stone: “To be honest, I never look at my register of interests, it’s probably of little interest to me.”

The committee strongly condemned Bridgen for emailing Stone shortly after she referred her findings to the MPs.

Bridgen wrote: “I was distressed to hear on a number of occasions an unsubstantiated rumour that your contract as parliamentary standards commissioner is due to end in the coming months and that there are advanced plans to offer you a peerage, potentially as soon as the prime minister’s resignation honours list.

“There is also some suggestion amongst colleagues that those plans are dependent upon arriving at the ‘right’ outcomes when conducting parliamentary standards investigation.”

While Bridgen said his email was just “seeking assurance”, the committee said it “appears to be an attempt to place wholly inappropriate pressure on the commissioner”, calling this “completely unacceptable behaviour”.

It thus said Bridgen had breached another section of the MPs’ code of conduct, about not seeking to influence the commissioner.

In mitigation, it said Bridgen had been motivated by trying to help a constituency interest, and because of an interest in climate change and international development.

Bridgen said he was “extremely disappointed” with his recommended suspension but said he accepted the findings.