The British Parliament was engulfed deeply in a cash-for-lobbying scandal on Sunday as three peers were allegedly exposed in a media sting offering to carry out parliamentary work in return for cash.
Two Labour peers, Lord John Cunningham and Lord Brian Mackenzie of Framwellgate, and Lord John Dunn Laird of the Ulster Unionist Party were exposed in an investigation by undercover Sunday Times reporters posing as lobbyists linked to a South Korean firm.
The scandal comes after an undercover investigation by the BBC’s Panorama and the Daily Telegraph which revealed Tory MP Patrick Mercer tabling House of Commons questions after signing a deal with a lobbying firm that paid him £4,000 to help get Fiji readmitted to the Commonwealth.
Mr Mercer immediately quit the Conservative Party and decided not stand in the next election over allegations that he had broken lobbying rules.
He referred he issue to the parliamentary ethics watchdog. The three peers denied breaching parliamentary rules and referred themselves to the House of Lords commissioner for standards.
The Labour Party suspended two Labour peers, Lord John Cunningham and Lord Brian Mackenzie, “pending further investigation in the cash-for lobbying scandal on Sunday.”
“The Labour Party expects the highest standards of its representatives and believes that they have a duty to be transparent and accountable at all times,” the Labour party said.
Lord John Dunn Laird resigned from the Ulster Unionist party whip and again made a case for his innocence. “In recent days I have been the subject of a scam operated by journalists masquerading as communications consultants,” he said in a statement.
“This has led to allegations that I have broken the rules of the House of Lords. I wish to make it clear that I did not agree to act as a paid advocate in any proceedings of the House nor did I accept payment or other incentive or reward in return for providing parliamentary advice or services.”
He said that he had informed the House of Lords authorities of the offer by undercover reporters as “it was so obviously a scam.” The scandal will renew pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron to introduce a statutory register of lobbyists, as promised in 2010 in the coalition agreement between his Conservatives and their junior partners, the Liberal Democrats.
Mr Cameron warned more than three years ago that lobbying was “the next big scandal waiting to happen” but critics, including some Liberal Democrats, accuse him of dragging his feet.