Inside Politics: Cox accused of ‘taking the p**s’ over second job earnings

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then Allegra Stratton’s face told the whole story last night as she appeared on Channel 4 News to discuss the day’s events in Glasgow. Boris Johnson’s visibly frustrated Cop26 spokeswoman was repeatedly forced to bat away questions about how her boss’s handling of Tory sleaze allegations impacted his credibility at the summit – not long after the PM insisted that “I genuinely believe that the UK is not remotely a corrupt country”. Of course, it isn’t, although critics might argue that the type of behaviour demonstrated by No 10 last week was itself a corrupt act. But the mere fact that the PM felt compelled to say so on the global stage tells you something about the mess he’s got himself and his party into, not to mention the innumerable headaches he’s creating for his aides. To Johnson’s credit, he took a much stronger line on the scandal during a Cop conference press conference, saying that MPs must first devote themselves to their constituents and that those who break the rules must be punished, which leads us on to the case of Sir Geoffrey Cox. The Devon West MP did himself no favours yesterday, releasing a pompous statement on his website, written in the third person. “He does not believe that he breached the rules,” it said. But he will “accept the judgement of the Parliamentary Commissioner or of the Committee”. What is it going to take for a politician to put their hands up, admit they got it wrong and say sorry? The former attorney general wakes up this morning to another series of damaging headlines about how he’s been lining his pockets while serving in the Commons.

House of Commons is in recess until 15 November

Coming up:

–Former deputy PM and Labour peer John Prescott on BBC Breakfast at 8.20am

– Small business minister Paul Scully on ITV GMB at 8.30am

WHERE IS GEOFF?: The Cox story appears to be going nowhere just yet, and anger among MPs – including those on the government benches – is growing rather than subsiding. One backbencher told The Independent Sir Geoffrey Cox had “taken the f***ing p***” by raking in hundreds of thousands of pounds in outside earnings at a time when many voters are facing financial difficulties due to the cost of living squeeze. For his part (well, someone else on his behalf) Cox claimed in his statement he “does not believe” he breached MPs’ rules – despite footage appearing to show him undertaking external work from his Commons office.

GOOD COP, BAD COP: Although he took a much tougher stand on MPs’ standards, the PM – who is accused of being one of the main architects of the plan to rip up Commons rules – twice declined to apologise, leaving the door wide open for Labour to claim that he’s not interested in cleaning up Westminster. The Guardian and Daily Mail this morning both splash on stories saying that Cox has raked in a whopping £6m from his second job.

KER-CHING: And it’s not just Cox with a side hustle: MPs across the House – including in the Labour Party – have outside interests, although the majority of those making eye-watering sums seem to be on the Conservative side. Analysis by The Independent shows MPs are earning more than £1.4m a year to act as consultants for private firms – with some receiving more from their second job than their primary work serving constituents.

LEASE OF LIFE: It wasn’t all bad news for the PM yesterday as China and the US – two of the world’s biggest polluters – set aside their many difference to agree on a pact to tackle climate, giving Glasgow’s Cop26 summit a much-needed lease of life heading into its final days. The world’s two largest polluters have committed to a working group for this decade, saying they will “meet regularly” and focus on “concrete actions”.A sudden announcement was made on the UN Cop26 website on Wednesday that there would back-to-back press conferences from the nations’ two longtime climate negotiators, Xie Zhenhua and John Kerry. As has already been pointed out by climate journalists, some of the language used in the agreement is incredibly woolly. As ever with these announcements, the devil will be in the detail and the proof in the pudding when the experts crunch the numbers. Johnson in his remarks admitted there was still a “huge amount” to do to keep 1.5C alive.

FOREVER WAR: London’s never-ending Brexit war of words with Brussels over the Northern Ireland protocol shows no signs of ending. De-facto Brexit minister Lord Frost pulled back from an early suspension of the new trading arrangements but didn’t completely rule it out either. In a statement to the House of Lords, Lord Frost repeated his threat – first made in July – to trigger Article 16 if necessary, despite the EU threat of what he called “massive and disproportionate retaliation”.But he said, of his weekly talks with the European Commission: “This process of negotiations has not reached his end.”

PATEL BOAT PLAN FLAW: Priti Patel has been advised that she will lose a legal challenge over plans to send migrant boats back across the channel, according to reports. Government lawyers have reportedly told the home secretary that she has a “less than 30 per cent” chance of successfully defending the policy if it was challenged in the courts. The legal assessment comes from internal Home Office papers obtained by The Guardian. The leaked documents allegedly say that the Home Office should expect a legal challenge over the planned tactic to force small boats carrying migrants back into French waters.

“The rules say the two crucial things: you must put your job as an MP first and you must devote yourself primarily and above all to your constituents and the people who send you to Westminster, to parliament. And they also say that you should not use your position as an MP to lobby or otherwise intervene on behalf of any outside commercial interest. It is not only that you have to register those interests – you can’t lobby or make representation while an MP on behalf of those interests. Those are the rules and they must be enforced and those who don’t obey them should, of course, face sanctions.”

Johnson on MPs’ standards.

“Johnson’s premiership is at a crossroads. The populist outsider has become the elitist insider, and stopped listening to wise counsel. It’s now down to Tory MPs to save the PM from himself.”

Tom Newton Dunn of The Times and Evening Standard.

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