Keir Starmer calls on region's Tory MPs to explain Owen Paterson vote threat claims

The Labour leader said he was “appalled” that Conservative whips had reportedly warned MPs their constituencies would lose funding if they failed to support the Government in a vote to overhaul the Commons sleaze watchdog.

Across the Black Country, Staffordshire and Shropshire just two Conservative MPs did not back an amendment to effectively save Mr Paterson’s political career by putting his suspension aside for a review of the standards system.

Following a Government U-turn, Mr Paterson – who has vehemently denied any wrongdoing – resigned as the MP for North Shropshire.

But in an interview with the Star, Sir Keir said he was furious with Boris Johnson for trashing the reputation of British politics and treating the public with contempt.

He said the alleged threat over funding – which could potentially lead to a ‘cash for votes’ inquiry – was a “scandal in its own right”.

“There should never be a threat to an MP to say ‘if you don’t vote with the Government we will withdraw the funding for your constituency’,” Sir Keir said.

“It doubly shouldn’t be a threat when you’re asking someone to vote for something as corrupt as effectively letting off Owen Paterson and bringing down the whole standards process.

“If this threat was made then MPs should be explaining that to their constituents.”

Sir Keir returned to public life over the weekend after contracting Covid, taking questions from broadcasters on Sunday before going to watch Arsenal.

He is attempting to capitalise on the sleaze row, which he said was a “contemptuous” effort at protecting Mr Paterson that brought back memories of the scandal over Dominic Cummings’ lockdown breach last year. He said: “The Government’s attempt to suggest that it was about standards reform is complete and utter rubbish.

“It is a version of Dominic Cummings ‘I was only testing my eyesight’.

“You do something that is corrupt and wrong, you then double down and treat the public with contempt by putting up a pathetic defence. They did it with Dominic Cummings and here it is the same.

“There’s obviously anger on the Tory benches that they have been forced through the sewer by the Prime Minister, but there’s also anger on our benches – including from me – that this Prime Minister is doing this to our democracy and our country. Our reputation across the world is that Britain is a place where we have high standards, we play by the rules and as a result we have low levels of corruption.

“So on our side there is real anger that our reputation is being trashed by a Prime Minister and MPs who are prepared to go along with this.”

In a poll by Opinium over the weekend a quarter of people who responded said they believed that both main parties would run corrupt governments.

But asked if voters were losing trust in politicians, Sir Keir said there was a “huge difference” between the Labour Party and the Conservatives, ading: “It was Tory MPs who voted to let Owen Paterson off the hook and we have to demonstrate there is a massive divide on this.”

He said further evidence of this could be seen in his handling of the case of disgraced former Labour MP Claudia Webb, who was convicted of harassment last month after threatening to throw acid on a woman.

Sir Keir said: “We suspended her when she was charged, and we than expelled her when she was convicted.

“On the other hand, with the Prime Minister you have someone who rips up the whole system in order to protect one of his mates.

“This is a Prime Minister who is leading the charge on bringing the standards of public life down.”

Sir Keir has called on Webbe to stand down as the MP for Leicester East, but said her predecessor Keith Vaz – who was also disgraced following a drugs for prostitutes scandal – would not be selected as Labour’s candidate.

“We have to wait and see if there is a by-election in Leicester East, but if there is, Keith Vaz won’t be the Labour candidate,” he said.

Sir Keir said Labour was preparing to Fight for Mr Paterson’s old North Shropshire seat in the upcoming by-election, with the local constituency party keen to decide on a candidate “pretty quickly” as they attempt to overturn a Tory majority of 22,949.

He is bidding to do in the county what the Tories did in the Black Country in 2019, by defying the odds and winning a seat that has previously been out of reach.

He said his preference would be for a local candidate, and vowed to get out and about into communities to put Labour’s offer to the public.

He did not say whether he would be coming to the North Shropshire constituency in person as part of a by-election campaign, but added: “We’re going to fight everywhere, including in North Shropshire.

“I’m well aware that in order to persuade people to look again at Labour and then hopefully to vote for Labour, I have to show why it matters to me, which is why I want to be among the communities where we want to be winning the argument.”

He also criticised the possibility of Mr Paterson receiving a peerage.

“It would pile corruption upon corruption,” he said. “And I think there would be a revolt in the Lords.

“It would be absolutely the wrong thing to do.”

Meanwhile Sir Keir has called on world leaders at the COP26 conference to do more to secure a commitment to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees as the event enters its second week.

He said: “What is happening in Glasgow is the most important international conference we have ever seen, and there’s a long way to go yet to get the commitment to 1.5 degrees.

“I’m hoping that progress will be made this week, but in order to get to this level we need global leadership, the likes of which we saw after the financial crash with Gordon Brown, and after the Second World War.

“Global leadership requires trust, and trust in our Prime Minister is at rock bottom.

“I’m still willing victory at COP26 because I think it is bigger than domestic politics in any given country, so let’s hope there is still some room for progress.”