LABOUR will force a Commons vote on Wednesday on banning MPs from taking paid directorships or consultancies, in a bid to “call time” on the Tory sleaze scandal. 

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said that the vote, set to take place after an opposition day debate, offers a way to end the sort of “dodgy lobbying” carried out by ex-Cabinet minister Owen Paterson.

“I strongly believe that paid consultancies and directorships should just be outlawed,” Sir Keir told LBC yesterday morning.
 
“There’s pretty obviously a potential for a conflict of interest, and we’ve seen that in the past few weeks.”

Sir Keir said there was also a strong case for outlawing all second jobs for MPs apart from those also working in the public sector, such as doctors.

In a second motion, Labour will call for the publication of papers relating to the lobbying done by Mr Paterson for Randox, the healthcare and Covid-19 testing firm that paid him as a consultant.

The firm won £500 million in contracts relating to the pandemic. 

Prime Minister Boris Johnson admitted for the first time at the weekend that he could have handled the Paterson debacle better. 

The new sleaze row was sparked after the government attempted to block the former minister from punishment for breaking lobbying rules, and then sought to change the process that found him guilty. 

But the government was forced to make a U-turn on the decision following a fierce backlash, and Mr Paterson was suspended. 

Labour MP Richard Burgon said there was no reason for Tory MPs to oppose the opposition day motion, “other than defending naked self-interest, wanting to get a piece of the big-money corporate action for themselves, or craven loyalty to Establishment interests.”

Mr Burgon told the Morning Star that the ban should be extended to all second jobs, however, with limited exceptions such as for those MPs also working in front-line roles.

“The rot in our political system runs deep and needs to be cleared away,” he said.

“That means banning second jobs. Being an MP is a full-time job and is a well-paid job.

“MPs don’t need extra earnings. They should be serving the public, not corporate paymasters.”

The MP is bringing a separate private member’s Bill to ban second jobs for MPs.

“By chasing corporate cash, MPs are shortchanging the public and undermining our democracy,” he said. 

Labour meanwhile called for an investigation into alleged breaches of the ministerial code by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, a keen recreational pilot, over reports that he used public money for a secret lobbying operation against plans to build on airfields. 

The Sunday Times reported that Mr Shapps “set up and diverted public money” to the Airfield Advisory Team — a group created to challenge planning developments on airfields. 

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner accused Mr Shapps of acting outside of the public interest to “further his own personal hobbies [and] interests.”

“On a daily basis, the actions of Boris Johnson’s ministers bring shame on our democracy and corrode public trust in our politics, and yet again the Prime Minister is failing to take action to stamp out the corruption that has engulfed his government,” she said. 

The Department for Transport rejected the accusations, claiming that the AAT is not a lobbying body and that it supplies “support to general aviation on a range of matters affecting their operations.”