Blackpool South Conservative MP (member of Parliament), Scott Benton, has been suspended after allegedly offering to lobby ministers for gambling investors and divulging a classified policy document for up to £4.000 a month, prompting the party whip to be suspended.
The Times’ undercover investigation:
As reported, he was secretly recorded by undercover newspaper reporters posing as investors in a bogus company interested in the wagering and gaming industry seeking an adviser. Moreover, Benton was just one of eight MPs the Times said it approached.
On the video he said he could “call in favors from colleagues and get easy access to ministers when queuing for parliamentary votes.”
Furthermore, he was asked: “What you could offer the fake company instead of a PR or lobbying firm?
And he said, according to the newspaper: “There’s probably 10 different PR firms I know who are trying to get meetings with the minister … The beauty of politicians, if you like, are we vote in the House of Commons two or three times a day, and we’ll be voting later.
The Times’ undercover investigation:
As reported, he was secretly recorded by undercover newspaper reporters posing as investors in a bogus company interested in the wagering and gaming industry seeking an adviser. Moreover, Benton was just one of eight MPs the Times said it approached.
On the video he said he could “call in favors from colleagues and get easy access to ministers when queuing for parliamentary votes.”
Furthermore, he was asked: “What you could offer the fake company instead of a PR or lobbying firm?
And he said, according to the newspaper: “There’s probably 10 different PR firms I know who are trying to get meetings with the minister … The beauty of politicians, if you like, are we vote in the House of Commons two or three times a day, and we’ll be voting later.
