Report makes ruling on former MP Owen Paterson over accusations of lobbying that broke rules
An investigation has concluded a former county MP acted as a lobbyist, despite not being registered to do so.
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The report into lobbying by former North Shropshire Conservative Owen Paterson has today been published by the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists.
The investigation relates to Mr Paterson's actions while he was a paid consultant for Randox Laboratories.
It concludes that eight letters to the-then Secretary of State at the Department for Health and Social Security were "registerable".
The report states: "The Registrar provisionally considers that the above eight communications were registerable. Mr Paterson was not registered on the Register at the material time when the communications were made."
The eight communications came between January 26, 2020, and October 24, 2020.
A report issued on the decision says it remains subject to submissions from Mr Paterson, "and the Registrar may change his provisional decision in light of such representations".
The Shropshire Star has contacted Mr Paterson for comment.
The investigation follows a series of events that led to Mr Paterson's resignation as an MP in 2021.
Mr Paterson had been investigated by the parliamentary standards commissioner over allegations he had breached lobbying rules.
The commissioner's findings, published on October 26, 2021, concluded he had broken the rules in “an egregious case of paid advocacy”.
As a result it was recommended that Mr Paterson be suspended from the House of Commons for 30 days.
The decision set into motion a chain of events that led to the long-standing MP resigning his position.
The-then Prime Minister Boris Johnson initially stood by Mr Paterson, while top Tories backed an amendment to set up a new committee to look into the way MPs are investigated.
The amendment passed but anger in his own ranks and an absence of cross-party support forced the Prime Minister into a U-turn, as the government support for Mr Paterson disappeared.
Before a fresh vote on the suspension could take place Mr Paterson resigned his seat.
