LONDON, UK
Britain's Conservative Party has suspended the party whip from former UK Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind after he was caught by investigative journalists offering political access in return for cash along with former Labour Foreign Secretary Jack Straw.
The decision was confirmed by Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday after Chief Whip Michael Gove said a disciplinary inquiry into the claims made by press and TV journalists against Rifkind would also be carried out by the party.
The pair are two of nine MPs and peers filmed by journalists from The Telegraph and a Channel 4 TV program, Dispatches, offering to use their positions as politicians on behalf of a spoof Hong Kong-based company in return for payments of at least £5,000 per day.
Rifkind, the Conservative MP for Kensington and Chelsea and chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee which oversees Britain's intelligence agencies, was caught on camera saying: "I am self-employed, so nobody pays me a salary. I have to earn my income."
He said his standard fee for half-a-day's-work was "in the region of £5,000 to £8,000".
'Useful access'
Sir Malcolm, one of the most influential figures in the Conservative party, told undercover journalists he could arrange "useful access" to every British ambassador in the world.
He said that he was "self-employed" despite earning £67,000 per year as a member of parliament.
The outcome of the inquiry against Rifkind will decide whether he will be allowed to stand as the Tory candidate at the general election, raising the prospect of a battle for one of the party’s safest seats in Britain.
Straw, one of Labour’s most senior figures, boasted that he operated “under the radar” to use his influence to change European Union rules on behalf of a commodity firm which pays him £60,000 a year.
He has been suspended from Labour following the disclosures, described by the party as "disturbing".
Second-jobs ban proposed
Straw suspended himself from the parliamentary Labour party on Sunday night while both men referred themselves to the parliamentary standards commissioner.
Rifkind confirmed to the BBC2's Daily Politics programme that an inquiry was under way, saying: "If it is that, for a short period of time, then we must let that take its course. That is all I am going to comment at the moment."
Both Straw and Rifkind said that what they were doing was not illegal and permitted under parliamentary rules.
However, under U.K. law members of parliament are forbidden from acting as paid representatives while performing duties - including persuading other officials to act.
Labour Party chief Ed Miliband has written to Prime Minister David Cameron proposing that MPs be prohibited from taking second jobs.
