Rishi Sunak – live: Brexiteer Owen Paterson takes government to EU human rights tribunal

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Former Tory MP Owen Paterson has claimed the lobbying investigation that sparked a government scandal ending in his resignation breached his human rights.

The Brexiteer has filed a formal complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which on Tuesday formally asked the UK government to respond to its allegations.

Mr. The Human Rights Act, relating to respect for his private and family life, had been breached.

An official notice states that the ex-MP claimed that the finding that he had breached the Code of Conduct "damaged his good name" and that "the process by which the allegations against him were investigated and reviewed was unfair in many fundamental respects ".

If the case, believed to be the first time a British MP has complained to the ECHR, is brought forward and the court finds that Mr Paterson's rights will be breached, the UK will have to implement its judgment and remedy any illegal behavior - possibly by quashing the original standards inquiry and launching a new process.

Mr. Paterson resigned as MP for North Shropshire in November 2021 after being found by House of Commons authorities to have lobbied the government on behalf of two companies paying him more than £100,000 a year. /p>

The Standards Committee recommended a 30-day suspension after a series of driving offenses were found, but the scandal escalated when then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson decided to overhaul the misconduct system.

The government did an about-face following widespread public outcry and Mr Paterson later resigned, while continuing to deny wrongdoing. < /p>

Mr. Paterson – a staunch Brexit supporter who was a member of the radical Tories' European Research Group – had previously called for the UK to be 'released from the order' of the ECHR.

In a speech in 2014, he said Brexit would allow the repeal of the Human Rights Act and allow Britain to "break free" from the Strasbourg court which oversees the ECHR and human rights laws rights.

"Much of the problematic immigration to this country is not just from the EU, but from the European Convention on Human Rights...