What did Owen Paterson do? Everything you need to know about the Conservative lobbying scandal

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Former Tory MP Owen Paterson has claimed his human rights were violated in the parliamentary lobbying inquiry that led to his resignation.

< p>M. Paterson left the House of Commons in November 2021 after being found by the standards authority to have broken rules on paid advocacy.

The episode plunged Boris Johnson's government into turmoil, as the then prime minister attempted to overhaul the misconduct system to save his MP from suspension.

Mr. Paterson has now filed a formal complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) claiming the standards inquiry had 'damaged his good name' and was 'not fair in many fundamental respects ".< /p>

So what did the Tory MP do wrong? Why did the government try to save him? And why did the episode draw accusations of sleaze from opposition parties?

What did Owen Paterson do?

Kathyrn Stone, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, last week recommended a 30-day ban on Mr Paterson from the House of Commons in a report later endorsed by a group of cross-party MPs on the Standards Committee.

Ms Stone's investigation found that Mr Paterson repeatedly lobbied on behalf of two companies paying him more than £100,000 a year - Randox and Lynn's Country Foods - in what the investigative report described as a "blatant case of paid advocacy".

Mr. exemption in the lobbying rules, which allow an MP to approach officials with evidence of "gross misconduct or substantial injustice".

But with the exception of a meeting over concerns about milk testing, the committee did not agree that Mr Paterson's moves fell within the exemption.

W Why did Tory MPs vote to save Paterson? What did they vote for?

On Wednesday, Tory MPs were ordered by party whips not to back the standards committee's call for Mrs Paterson to be suspended for 30 days - a ban which could have seen him the subject of a recall petition from his constituents.

A planned yes-no vote on Mr Paterson's suspension has been replaced by the Tory MP's amendment Dame Andrea Leadsom to set up a new Tory-led committee to both review Mr Paterson's case and determine whether a new standards system...