Sayeed apologises to Commons for second time
Conservative backbench MP Jonathan Sayeed has made a second apology to the House of Commons in the row over allegations that he profited from giving tours of Parliament.
Mr Sayeed was suspended from Parliament for two weeks in February when a report by the Standards Committee found he had allowed the reputation of Parliament to be “injured”, although it found no evidence he had directly profited from the tours.
He apologised to the Commons last month, accepting some criticisms of his conduct, but claimed there were “errors of fact” in the report and called his suspension “unjust and wrong”.
The committee responded to his comments by re-examining the issue and, last Friday, recommending that Mr Sayeed be indefinitely suspended if he did not make a further apology by April 4.
They said his comments showed he had not, in fact, fully apologised the first time around.
Today, the backbench MP made an “unreserved” apology to the Commons over the matter.
Mr Sayeed is standing down at the next election, claiming ill-health.
