Decision to suspend ex-Tory MP upheld

PRIME Minister Rishi Sunak faces the prospect of another difficult by-election, after an independent panel upheld a finding that former Conservative MP Scott Benton should be suspended from the Commons for 35 days.

Mr Benton, who was elected as a Conservative but now sits as an Independent for Blackpool South, was found to have breached Commons rules after he was caught by The Times offering to lobby ministers and table parliamentary questions on behalf of gambling investors.

He appealed against both the finding and the suspension, but in a report published yesterday an independent panel upheld the Standards Committee's original decision, saying there had been "no procedural flaw" in the process.