Tories eject grandee in cash-for-access claim

The Conservative Party has suspended the whip from former foreign secretary Malcolm Rifkind and a party disciplinary committee will investigate cash-for-access allegations resulting from an undercover sting operation.

Rifkind, who chairs the parliamentary committee overseeing Britain’s intelligence agencies, was one of two senior British politicians secretly filmed by reporters posing as representatives of a fictitious Hong Kong-based firm seeking to hire senior British politicians to join its advisory board.

The veteran MP is said to have claimed that he could arrange “useful access” to every British ambassador in the world because of his status, while Labour’s former foreign secretary Jack Straw boasted of operating “under the radar” to use his influence to change EU rules on behalf of a commodity firm which paid him £60,000 (€81,820) a year.

Both men have denied any wrongdoing and have referred themselves to the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner. Straw has suspended himself from the Labour Party while he fights to clear his name.

Following a meeting between Rifkind and Tory chief whip Michael Gove, a Conservative source said: “The Conservative Party has suspended the whip from Malcolm Rifkind — effective immediately.

“A disciplinary committee of the party will be convened to investigate his case.”

Labour leader Ed Miliband wrote to prime minister David Cameron urging him to follow Labour’s lead by banning his MPs from taking directorships and consultancies, and floating proposals for a cap on outside earnings.

Labour MPs and prospective parliamentary candidates have already been warned that the party’s rulebook will be changed to stop them holding such posts after the May general election — a commitment Miliband confirmed will be in the Labour manifesto.

Miliband also revealed he is consulting on legislation to put the ban into law for all MPs and to impose a cap on outside income similar to that in place for members of Congress in the US, who may earn no more than the equivalent of 15% of a minister of state’s salary on top of their pay as lawmakers.

Party sources stressed that no figure has been set on the proposed cap, but the US example suggests a level of around £5,000-£15,000 a year may be under consideration.