The government has ditched its plans to overhaul parliament’s standards system following a furious backlash.
Boris Johnson ordered Tory MPs on Wednesday to block the suspension from parliament of Owen Paterson, the former cabinet minister, after he was found to have broken lobbying rules.
The government also moved to change the entire disciplinary system for MPs.
But accusing the Conservatives of a return to “sleaze”, opposition parties, including Labour, the SNP and the Lib Dems said they would refuse to take part.
In a swift u-turn, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Commons leader, announced on Thursday morning the shake-up of standards rules would now not happen.
“A committee cannot work effectively without opposition members on it,” he said.
“I am aware that last night’s vote has created a certain amount of controversy. It is important that standards in this House are done on a cross-party basis.”
Rees-Mogg added: “I and others will be looking to work on a cross-party basis to achieve improvements in our system for future cases. We will bring forward more detailed proposals once there have been cross-party discussions.”
The row erupted after the Commons Standards Committee recommended Paterson be kicked out of parliament for 30 days.
He was found to have repeatedly lobbied ministers and officials for two companies - Randox and Lynn’s Country Foods - paying him more than £100,000 per year.
It is not yet clear what the government’s climbdown will mean for Paterson.
Before the u-turn, Chris Bryant, chairman of the Commons Standards Committee, said the Conservatives’ move was a “perversion of justice”.
“That is not what we do in this country, it’s what they do in Russia when a friend or a foe is suddenly under the cosh in the courts,” the Labour MP told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Lib Dem chief whip Wendy Chamberlain had also accused the Tories of “governing like the mafia” by “targeting those who uphold the rules rather than those who break them”.
