Author: Sam Al-Hamdani

Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain has criticised the Government over their handling of the Owen Paterson saga during her emergency debate and called for an end to sleaze and corruption in politics. In her speech she said: "Previous Prime Ministers and previous Governments have all had their failings. However, it is a long time since we have seen, not just this stench of sleaze, but the absolute lack of resolve to do anything about it. "They say a fish rots from the head down. And doesn’t it say it all, that our Prime Minister has not turned up today to answer our questions? "You can’t help but feel that he thinks the rules just don’t apply to him. Time and again, this Government has refused to properly investigate allegations…

Responding to reports that former attorney general Geoffrey Cox has a second job that allegedly saw him vote remotely from the Caribbean, take advantage of lockdown rules and earn £1million from legal work in the past year, Liberal Democrat Cheif Whip Wendy Chamberlain said: "The public will rightly be gobsmacked by these reports. "Why was a Tory MP apparently spending time on the other side of the world advising a known tax haven instead of supporting his constituents? For the Justice Secretary to defend this behaviour as legitimate is frankly astonishing. "The bigger irony here is that the government has ordered an inquiry into corruption and political cronyism in the British Virgin Islands, while refusing to carry one out at home."

Liberal Democrat Leader, Sir Ed Davey MP, has visited Whitchurch to lend his backing to the local Liberal Democrats’ campaign for North Shropshire. Sir Ed is the first party leader to visit the constituency since Owen Paterson resigned. At the recent local elections in May, the Liberal Democrats finished second in North Shropshire with the Greens and Labour in a distant third and fourth place. Across Shropshire, the Liberal Democrats have more councillors than any other party other than the Conservatives. Earlier this year, the Liberal Democrats won a historic parliamentary by-election in Chesham and Amersham against the Conservatives with both Labour and the Greens receiving less than 5% of the vote. In a rally with local Liberal Democrat supporters in Whitchurch, Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Ed Davey…

The Liberal Democrats have this morning called on Boris Johnson to show up to the emergency debate on standards today in Parliament. They have said his failure to do so would be a shocking "abdication of leadership". The debate, secured by the Liberal Democrats follows last week’s vote in which Conservative MPs voted to overturn the suspension of Owen Paterson and overhaul Parliament’s anti-sleaze rules. Commenting ahead her debate, Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain MP said: "A fish rots from the head down, and it’s the same with Boris Johnson’s corrupt and sleazy government. If Johnson fails to appear at the emergency debate on sleaze today it'll be a shocking abdication of leadership. “From the redecoration of his flat to holidays reportedly paid for by Tory party donors, the…

Liberal Democrats demand independent public inquiry into sleaze allegations with powers to summon witnesses under oath.MPs under investigation should no longer be able to vote on disciplinary issues.The Lib Dems have secured an emergency debate in Parliament on the political sleaze scandal on Monday afternoon. The Liberal Democrats have called for an independent public inquiry into government sleaze and allegations of political corruption, warning that Boris Johnson’s Conservatives are “releasing sewage into our rivers and sleaze into our politics.” The party is also demanding that any MPs under investigation for breaking parliamentary rules should be barred from taking part in Commons votes on disciplinary issues. It comes ahead of an emergency House of Commons debate on parliamentary standards on Monday 8 November, secured by Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain…

Responding to Sir John Major's comments on the Today Programme this morning that Boris Johnson's government is "un-conservative" and "potentially politically corrupt", Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper MP said: "For a former Conservative Prime Minister to describe this government as being politically corrupt is frankly astonishing and a damning indictment of the Tories under Boris Johnson. "John Major is simply saying what millions of lifelong Tory voters are thinking: Boris Johnson's Conservatives no longer represent them. “This week’s scandal is just the latest in a long string of attempts to undermine our democratic traditions and shared values of decency, honesty and transparency. "Right across former Conservative heartlands in the Blue Wall, people are sick of being taken for granted by a government mired in sleaze and corruption."