How Derbyshire MPs voted on the Owen Paterson case – before Government announced rethink

The Government has announced it will rethink its plans to shake-up the policing on MPs’ conduct – after a furious backlash.
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On Wednesday, Number 10 backed an overhaul of the standards watchdog and blocked the suspension of former Tory minister Owen Paterson, who had been found to have misused his position to benefit two companies he worked for.

But it sparked accusations of ‘sleaze’, with Labour saying the Conservatives just wanted to ‘let off one of their own’.

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On Thursday, Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of the House of Commons, confirmed the changes will not go ahead without cross-party support.

Parliament.Parliament.
Parliament.

He told the Commons there was a ‘strong feeling’ that any change to the standards process ‘should not be based on a single case’.

Wednesday’s vote had ‘conflated’ the two, he said.

“This link needs to be broken,” added Mr Rees-Mogg.

“Therefore I and others will be looking at working on a cross-party basis to achieve improvements in our system for future cases.”

How all of Derbyshire’s MPs voted on Wednesday on the controversial standards reform to protect Owen Paterson

Amber Valley Conservative MP Nigel Mills – VOTED AGAINST

Bolsover Conservative MP Mark Fletcher – DID NOT VOTE

Chesterfield Labour MP Toby Perkins – VOTED AGAINST

Derby North Conservative MP Amanda Solloway – VOTED FOR

Derby South Labour MP Margaret Beckett – DID NOT VOTE

Derbyshire Dales Conservative MP Sarah Dines – VOTED FOR

Mid-Derbyshire Conservative MP Pauline Latham – VOTED FOR

North East Derbyshire Conservative MP Lee Rowley – DID NOT VOTE

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South Derbyshire Conservative MP Heather Wheeler – VOTED FOR

Erewash Conservative MP Maggie Throup – VOTED FOR

High Peak Conservative MP Robert Largan – DID NOT VOTE

Reaction from Chesterfield’s Labour MP

Following Wednesday’s vote, Toby Perkins said it was a ‘very bleak and grubby day as Tory MPs vote to protect a Tory MP suspended by an independent commission’.

“If people continue to support this disreputable and grubby Government they will get exactly what they deserve,” he added.

He also retweeted a Labour Party meme saying: “The Tories break the rules then they remake the rules. One rule for them, another for everyone else.”

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During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Boris Johnson said he supported the proposed reforms and that MPs found to have broken the rules should get a right of appeal, as would happen with doctors and teachers found guilty of misconduct.

Politicians must ‘consider the procedures of this House in a spirit of fairness’, he added.

But Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner said the Conservatives were ‘wallowing in sleaze’ and accused them of changing the rules to suit their own ends.

She said: “It’s one rule for everybody else and one rule for the Conservatives. When they break the rules, they just remake the rules.

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“In no other profession in our country could someone be found guilty by an independent process and just have their mates vote them back into the job,” she added.

Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain called the Government’s ‘support’ of Mr Paterson ‘shameful’, adding that it would ‘inevitably damage’ trust in the system.