Tory sleaze U-turn descends into farce

Responding to the Government's failure yesterday evening to endorse a Standards Committee report on rule breaches by former Conservative MP Owen Paterson, Liberal Democrat Chief Whip Wendy Chamberlain MP said: "This is a total farce. First, the Government scheduled this motion so there would be no chance for debate. Now, the motion hasn’t passed. It’s insulting that, after two weeks of this scandal, the Government couldn’t even perform their sleaze U-turn successfully. This tells you all you need to know about the state of the Conservative Party.  "It’s vital that the Government brings this back before MPs as soon as possible. Every day that goes by without this being repealed, the more embarrassing this whole affair becomes. We must move forward." Frank Little adds:  "It is noticeable that Christopher Chope MP, the enemy of Private Members' Bills, was the man who cried 'object' in order to prevent the government's motion to pass without debate. I understand that the government will now shoehorn a debate on the motion into today's proceedings."