UK’s top Tories are ready to back a ban on outside consultancy work by MPs to quell accusations of sordidness in a move which Cabinet ministers say could lead to the removal of former Tory MPs from long time.

On Monday night, the House of Commons was due to approve the original report on parliamentary standards disgraced Tory Owen Paterson, the former minister who broke paid advocacy rules.

But ministers will now have to postpone a vote after Christopher Chope, a Conservative MP, shouted “objection” in the Commons, a move that prevented the motion from being passed automatically.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s botched attempt to reform the standards regime to protect Paterson, sparked an uproar against the outside interests of MPs and led to accusations of sordidness.

The Parliamentary Standards Committee, chaired by Labor MP Chris Bryant, is currently examining whether the regime allowing parliamentarians to have second jobs and outside interests should be reformed. The committee’s report is expected to be released by the end of the month.

The committee should focus on whether MPs should be banned from assuming additional roles as political or parliamentary consultants.
According to figures from the Member’s Interest Register, at least 30 have recorded income from consultancy work.

A senior cabinet minister said the ban on consultant roles was “attractive” because it “would remove the risk of lobbying.” But they warned it would lead many older Conservative MPs to leave Parliament.

“I expect people who have them [consultancy jobs] will be the people the Chief Whip and others would not be upset about if they decided they would not run in the next election, ”said the Minister.

A senior Conservative MP added: “There are a lot of ‘former ministers’ here right now who seem to have lost some of their raison d’être. And I have always been in favor of young people being members of Parliament.

A Whitehall official involved in the discussion of the new rules said: “It is more likely than not that the government will support the second job reforms. But we have to be careful not to open another box of worms. We do not want to upset heaps and heaps of members of Parliament with unintended consequences.

In Downing Street, there is an “ongoing debate” over the end of counseling work, officials said. A government insider said Johnson was waiting for Bryant’s committee report before taking action. “This is a parliamentary question and there is due process that we must follow. But there are pros and cons to all solutions that should be carefully considered.

Urged on whether MPs should be banned from holding advisory positions in an interview broadcast last Monday, the prime minister left the possibility open. “I think all of these kinds of things are questions that the president’s panel, or whatever it puts in place, is going to be looking at,” he said.

Some ministers fear it will be difficult to come to a conclusion on a definition of advisory work, but high-level MPs believe Bryant’s committee will find a solution.

“It is certainly possible to draw a clear line on policy advice that inevitably creates conflict, as long as it is clear that it is specific to potential conflicts like this, and not about public service or public service. ‘an unconnected outdoor experience that adds value to policy making,’ one curator mentioned.

The government’s anti-corruption watchdog, the Committee on the Standards of Public Life, recommended in 2018 that MPs should “not undertake outside employment as parliamentary strategists, advisers or consultants.” She concluded that such roles “can lead MPs to have a privileged relationship with an organization, and therefore exert undue influence over parliament”.

Bryant said he was unable to comment while the committee made its recommendations.

Meanwhile, business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng apologized to Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone after urging her earlier this month to consider her position after her critical report on Paterson.

“I didn’t mean to express any doubt about your ability to fulfill your role and I apologize for any upset or distress my choice of words may have caused,” Kwarteng wrote.