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WESTMINSTER officials had to cancel a class on ethics because not enough MPs bothered to turn up, a parliamentary watchdog admitted yesterday.
Standards committee chair Baron Paul Bew acknowledged dismal attendance from new MPs yesterday in a report to David Cameron insisting that the stakes had “never been higher” for political scandal.
Party leaders had promised to clean up the Commons in the wake of 2009’s expenses scandal and a trend in house-flipping which saw the Exchequer paying mortgage bills.
Yet fewer than one in five MPs entering the Commons since 2010 had attended even one induction session and one seminar on ethical dilemmas had been cancelled due to the lack of attendance.
Baron Bew said the looming prospect of a “recall bill” allowing the public to dump disgraced MPs meant the stakes had never been higher.
“More than ever, MPs need to be fully aware of the principles and the rules that guide their behaviour,” he said.
