MPs voted to protect the Conservative MP Owen Paterson from a 30-day suspension recommended after he was found to have repeatedly breached rules on paid lobbying.
Chris Bryant, the chair of the Commons standards committee, earlier warned Paterson that if Andrea Leadsom’s amendment passed his name would become 'a byword for bad behaviour', and made clear that he had had the opportunity to make his case repeatedly.
Boris Johnson backed the amendment, which halts Paterson’s punishment until a new cross-party committee, chaired by John Whittingdale, examines the standards system, but Keir Starmer has said Labour will not participate in the committee
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