Tory MP Scott Benton faces 35 day suspension setting up another by-election
A Tory MP who was filmed offering to lobby ministers and leak confidential information to a fake gambling company faces being booted out of Parliament.
Scott Benton was found to have committed a "very serious" breach of Parliamentary rules after remarks he made to undercover reporters. In a brutal ruling, the Standards Committee said he was "clearly motivated" by financial gain - and said the message he gave was that he was "corrupt and 'for sale'".
The committee recommended a 35 day suspension - which is likely to trigger a by-election in his marginal Blackpool South seat. During a meeting with journalists claiming to represent a British-Indian gambling firm in March, Mr Benton claimed "most" MPs would help a company after receiving a "lovely day" of hospitality.
He said he could help the company get a "foot in the door" with ministers and advisors, and suggested he could leak notes and a white paper on gambling that weren't in the public domain. Mr Benton also claimed MPs lie about the value of freebie tickets so they don't have to declare them.
And the MP, who was chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Betting and Gaming at the time, suggested he would be prepared to table Parliamentary questions and "call in favours".
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In its ruling the committee said: "The message he gave to his interlocutors at the 7 March meeting was that he was corrupt and 'for sale', and that so were many other Members of the House. He communicated a toxic message about standards in Parliament. We condemn Mr Benton for his comments which unjustifiably tarnish the reputation of all MPs."
The committee said his willingness to talk with a fictitious company was "clearly motivated" by a desire for financial gain. Mr Benton was secretly filmed by reporters at The Times agreeing to a fee of up to £4,000 a month for two days' work. He also boasted about his "direct" access to ministers.
The report added: "Mr Benton’s comments about his past willingness to collude with companies in making false valuations of hospitality suggest that this could have been a pattern of conduct on his part."
It found that the MP, who had the Conservative whip suspended but who still sits as an independent, had committed a "very serious breach" of Parliamentary rules, and said his actions "undermine the foundations of our democracy". It also accused him of giving “an incomplete and incorrect picture of what had transpired during the meeting” when he wrote to the Standards Commissioner, Daniel Greenberg, before the footage was released.
Mr Benton told the undercover reporters that he would be willing to share a white paper on gambling regulations 48 hours before its release. During the probe he claimed to have meant 48 hours after it was published, but Mr Greenberg said this was "not credible".
He also said that the meeting was held in a "noisy and distracting" environment, and said he wouldn't have had access to the white paper. He also said he'd not contacted the fake company following their meeting, which the Commissioner accepted.
In interviews with Mr Greenberg, Mr Benton said he had exaggerated and lied to the reporters in order to impress them. The Commissioner wrote: "It goes without saying that it is intensely disturbing and disappointing that a Member makes assertions to strangers, that he later readily describes as lies."
The committee said that a "serious" sanction is appropriate. In his conclusion Mr Greenberg said: "I am clear that the nature of the sting operation neither excuses Mr Benton’s actions nor changes the reputational impact of his words."
Lucy Powell, Labour’s Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, said: “This is a damning report from the cross-party standards committee, clearly concluding that Scott Benton seriously breached parliamentary rules in flaunting his position as a Parliamentarian in exchange for renumeration.
“This is not an isolated case, but comes off the back of a wave of Tory sleaze and scandal.
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The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards launched the probe after the Tory referred himself for investigation. The Code of Conduct for MPs states that “members shall never undertake any action which would cause significant damage to the reputation and integrity of the House of Commons as a whole or of its members generally”.
It created a possible by-election headache for Rishi Sunak in one of England's most marginal seats. Blackpool South was held by Labour from 1997 to 2019 when Mr Benton snatched the seat for the Conservatives. He won by just 3,690 votes.
Mr Benton was recorded stating: "The beauty of politicians, if you like, are we vote in the House of Commons two or three times a day, and we’ll be voting later. You will literally stand at the beginning at the entrance to the voting lobby. And if you wait there for five minutes, the minister has to pass you. And then you’ve got ten minutes while you walk around to the next vote to have his ear.”
The Tory MP also suggested he could "guarantee" to pass on a copy of a gambling white paper "within 48 hours of publication".
In a statement issued in April following the publication of The Times’ investigation, Mr Benton said: "Last month I was approached by a purported company offering me an expert advisory role. I met with two individuals claiming to represent the company to find out what this role entailed. After this meeting, I was asked to forward my CV and some other personal details. I did not do so as I was concerned that what was being asked of me was not within Parliamentary rules.
"I contacted the Commons Registrar and the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner who clarified these rules for me and had no further contact with the company. I did this before being made aware that the company did not exist and the individuals claiming to represent it were journalists."
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