CONDUCT OF LORD BLENCATHRA

That this House believes that the lenient punishment of Lord Blencathra proves that the Lords is not fit to discipline its members; notes that Lord Blencathra admitted at a hearing in 2012 to lobbying for the Cayman Islands for payment of £12,000 a month but explained that he was lobbying the Government not Parliament; observes that he failed then to reveal the existence of a contract he had signed; is astonished that the Lords Commissioner for Standards, at a second hearing held when the contract details were leaked, accepted Lord Blencathra's assurance that although he had signed a contract for lobbying he had no intention of carrying out lobbying on behalf of the tax haven; congratulates The Independent and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism for publishing the secret contract that exposed an egregious breach of the rule that forbids legislators from hiring out their services; and further believes that the failure to suspend Lord Blencathra from the service of the Lords will further deepen public cynicism on the conduct of parliamentarians.