Britain's parliament was embroiled in a growing sleaze scandal on Wednesday as allegations of lawmakers being paid for external work which may have breached parliamentary rules dominated the headlines.
The question of lawmakers having second jobs has come under renewed scrutiny over the past week, after Boris Johnson's government sought to change parliamentary conflict-of-interest rules to protect a colleague threatened with suspension.
Newspapers have reported Conservative Geoffrey Cox, a former attorney general, used a proxy voting system set up to accommodate lawmakers working at home during COVID-19 to take part in votes from the British Virgin Islands, where he was advising its ministers in a corruption inquiry initiated by Britain's Foreign Office.
Opposition Labour Party deputy leader Angela Rayner described it as "a brazen breach of the rules and an insult to taxpayers" and said she had written to the Commissioner for Standards asking her to investigate the allegations. The government did not appear prepared to defend Cox. Health minister Sajid Javid told Sky News lawmakers should not use facilities funded or supported by the taxpayer for external work. "The rules are clear," he said.
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