Former British foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind is under pressure to quit as head of Westminster's security intelligence watchdog following a sting operation that secretly filmed him bragging about his influence.
Mr Rifkind, who is bidding to retain his Commons seat, was immediately suspended by the Conservative Party after it emerged that he and former Labour foreign secretary Jack Straw met people claiming to represent a bogus company, called PMR, and offering to pay them to use their influence.
They insist their remarks, broadcast last night by Channel 4's Dispatches programme, have been misrepresented – with Mr Straw saying he was preparing for life after he retires from the Commons in May.
Prime minister David Cameron, however, put distance between himself and Mr Rifkind, saying: “These are very serious matters and we have, rightly, very clear rules in this country which is: MPs being paid to lobby, that is not acceptable, that is not allowed under the rules.”
A disciplinary inquiry will be held quickly, headed by government chief whip Michael Gove. Mr Rifkind will be barred from standing for the Tories in Kensington and Chelsea – one of the safest Commons seats – if it finds against him.
Intelligence committee
Meanwhile, there is growing pressure on him to step aside from the chairmanship of Westminster’s intelligence and security committee because of the controversy, even with parliament having just weeks of life left.
Mr Rifkind’s supporters became exasperated with him, particularly in a disastrous TV interview where he said: “I want to have a standard of living that my professional background would normally entitle me to have.”
Labour has been embarrassed, too, by the behaviour of Mr Straw, particularly by his filmed claim that he had helped to get an EU regulation changed for a company with eastern European links that pays him £60,000 a year. He, too, lost the party whip.
Labour leader Ed Miliband has urged Mr Cameron to accept MPs should be allowed to earn no more than 10 per cent or 15 per cent of their salary from outside interests. Mr Cameron is against the proposal over concerns it will dissuade people from entering politics.
Mr Rifkind is one of the highest earners in Westminster. He earns £67,000 as an MP, £14,876 a year for chairing the intelligence and security committee, but more than a quarter of a million pounds from outside directorships.
Speaking engagements
Former Labour prime minister
Gordon Brown
is the highest earner of all of the current crop of MPs, collecting just under £500,000 from speaking engagements – but fees are paid to his foundation, rather than to him personally.
Three Conservative MPs – Geoffrey Cox, Stephen Phillips and Edward Garnier – earn more than £200,000 as barristers.
The existing rules allow for MPs to have outside interests, if the names of the companies and the money they receive are listed in the Commons professional standards register.
Mr Rifkind has irritated some of his colleagues by voicing publicly the belief that it is “unrealistic” to accept that some of them “go through their parliamentary career being able to simply accept a salary of £60,000”.
