North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson avoids suspension after commons vote
North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson has avoided suspension after MPs voted to review parliament's disciplinary processes.
It comes after Conservative MPs this afternoon voted in the House of Commons to back an amendment seeking to reform the Commons standards system by 250 votes to 232, a majority of 18.
The unprecedented move comes after the Commons Standards Committee recommended the MP for North Shropshire be suspended for 30 days, after an investigation found he had repeatedly lobbied ministers and officials for two companies that breached Commons lobbying rules.
Mr Paterson made approaches to the Food Standards Agency and Department for International Development ministers about Randox and Lynn's Country Foods, which employ him as a consultant paying him a combined fee of around £112,000 per year.
The suspension would have triggered a recall petition, potentially leading to a by-election if 10 per cent of eligible voters in his North Shropshire constituency signed it.
Mr Paterson has denied any wrongdoing.
The government is understood to have issued a three-line whip ordering Tory MPs to reject the suspension and back an amendment seeking to overhaul the entire system.
Local Conservative MPs Lucy Allen, Daniel Kawczynski, Mark Pritchard and Philip Dunne all voted for the amendment.
