UK Parliament deals Boris Johnson another blow over sleaze row

London

BRITISH Prime Minister Boris Johnson's latest effort to draw a line under an escalating lobbying and sleaze row engulfing his government was thwarted at the last minute in the UK Parliament.

The government had hoped the House of Commons would formalise its U-turn on a controversial effort to block the suspension of a ruling Conservative Party politician.

That intervention sparked a severe backlash against Johnson, and he wanted his climbdown to be made official late on Monday (Nov 15).

But moments before that could happen, another Conservative MP shouted "object", meaning the move could not go ahead. For the government, it means finding a new date - and the risk that the furore over its behaviour is prolonged.

Chris Bryant, the Labour chair of the Commons standards committee, said there will be a debate on the issue on Tuesday (Nov 16), despite the best efforts of government to get it done without facing a debate.

What began as a plan to intervene to rewrite parliamentary rules on standards rather than accept the suspension of a former Tory minister found guilty of paid lobbying quickly morphed into a disaster for Johnson, triggering infighting in his party and undermining his leadership.

He ultimately backtracked, amid a slew of negative headlines about sleaze, British media shorthand for questionable actions ranging from corruption or secretive financial arrangements to sex scandals, in his party.

The government's motion on Monday (Nov 15) would have finally approved the independent watchdog's guilty verdict on Owen Paterson, a friend of Johnson who resigned as a Tory MP this month after the government's U-turn.

It would also have rescinded the attempt to overhaul the standards system. BLOOMBERG