BBC Debate Night: Tory MSP under fire for Westminster sleaze claim

Russell Findlay, appearing on BBC Scotland’s Debate Night, was put on the spot amid a “sleaze” scandal which is engulfing Boris Johnson’s government.

Issues around standards in public life have come to a head following the resignation of former Tory MP Owen Paterson after he was found to have lobbied for two companies paying him £100,000 a year.

Last week, MPs were ordered to vote for a new committee to consider an altered system of appeals and to review Paterson’s recommended suspension, only for ministers to backtrack hours later after opposition parties refused to co-operate.

Sir Geoffrey Cox, the MP for Torridge and West Devon, has since come under scrutiny for collecting hundreds of thousands of pounds as a QC while also an MP, including representing the British Virgin Islands in a corruption probe brought by the UK Government.

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“Trust has not been fundamentally broken,” Findlay insisted. “Or at least I sincerely hope not.”

He acknowledged the UK Government’s attempt to block Paterson’s suspension was “wrong”, adding: “Trying to change the process halfway through was wrong and that’s now been acknowledged.

“We have to learn from that and allow due process to play out.”

The Tory MSP continued: “I’d like to think that politicians are, in the main, motivated for good reasons.

“If you think back to the MPs’ expenses scandal, people talked seriously and sincerely about politics in the UK being broken, that wasn’t so long ago, about trust being completely destroyed.

“I think we’ve come back from that. You might not like politicians, you might not like individuals, but by and large the system does work and accountability and transparency is key.”

But those claims were given short shrift by an audience member who pointed to the recent appointment of unelected Lord and Tory donor Malcolm Offord to the Scotland Office.

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“I think you are totally wrong in saying you don’t believe it’s broken,” the audience member said.

As well as pointing to the Geoffrey Cox scandal, he highlighted Offord’s recent promotion to the UK Government following his failed attempt to win a seat in May’s Holyrood election.

“Mr Johnson gave him a peerage and then appointed him into the Scottish Office as a minister," he said.

Pointing at Findlay, he added: “And you say the system’s not broken. Really?”

Rishi Sunak admitted on Thursday that his government has to “do better” on public standards.

The Chancellor told broadcasters: “People will have different motivations for doing what they do, the pay is set by an independent body, that’s absolutely right.

“And with regard to second jobs, there’s an independent process that we have that’s set by Parliament that governs all of those things. And it’s absolutely right that that process is followed to the letter.”

But he added: “Now look, on the broader point – and just reflecting over recent events – I think for us as a Government, it’s fair to say that we need to do better than we did last week, and we know that.”