I am horrified by ex Labour Minister Stephen Byer’s touting for dosh using his ‘connections’. My goodness – we are trying to get free of the horrific scandal of MP expenses and regain peoples’ trust – and then this! And from three MPs who are stepping down – so clearly they are only interested in themselves and what they can get out of their ex-status.
Normally in firms – there is a two year contract to not open up in the same business in the same area (or variations on) when you leave the company. Surely – at the very least – the same should apply to politicians.
This is sleaze plain and simple – and Labour’s suggestion that a ‘register’ of lobbyists is the answer is pathetic. It is quite clear that it has been possible to buy legislative influence and change during Labour’s reign – that should not be possible!
I, and am sure most other MPs, meet and are lobbied by organisations all the time – and of course they want us to see things their way. When I was Shadow Sec of State for International Development – there were hundreds of them all wanting this or that. But listening to informed people in the field put their point is one thing and totally legitimate and if I’m lucky, informative too.
However, being paid must be a crime?
Lynne Featherstone 
Not especially fair to only name Byers here especially given the previous conduct of the likes of Hewitt and in particular Margaret Moran.
Further still, no one has been found guilty yet. Given that this article is about sleaze then surely you should have mentioned the four MPs pocketing payments in return for subjecting the taxpayer to cover higher rental on their properties as that was in the news this last week too. I wonder which party they were from?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8576304.stm
The fact is that there are vast numbers of rotten apples in Parliament and all the major parties have their share.