When two lords went a' grovelling: Peers in 汚職 列／漕ぐ／騒動 apologise to the House

By Michael Lea
Updated: 23:31 BST, 26 January 2009

Two of the four 労働 peers at the centre of 汚職 主張 s have made a brazen 試みる／企てる to save themselves from 存在 thrown out of the Lords.

They made public 陳謝s in the House as a secret 記録，記録的な／記録するing 明らかにする／漏らすd that one ? Lord Taylor of Blackburn ? 誇るd that £100,000 a year was ‘cheap for what I do’.

The 爆発性の tape was 解放（する）d moments after Lord Taylor and former 労働 whip Lord Snape were told that （人命などを）奪う，主張するs they were willing 内密に to 修正する 法律s in return for cash had brought shame on 議会.

Sorry: Lord Taylor, left, and Lord Snape in the House of Lords on Monday

‘This House has been 苦境に陥るd in a grim 激流 of 批評 about a culture of sleaze,’ said Lord Strathclyde, 影をつくる／尾行する Leader of the Lords, in an 緊急 審議.

He called the 事件／事情／状勢 a ‘深く，強烈に shocking and depressing moment’. The Leader of the Lords, Baroness Royall, told peers that an 調査 was already under way and would be ‘swift and r igorous’.

‘The 主張s have, in essence, brought this House into disrepute in the whole of the world,’ she said.

Last night, as the fallout from the 事件／事情／状勢 spread, 圧力 was 開始するing for a 支配する change to 許す Lords 当局 to 一時停止する or ? in the most extreme 事例／患者s ? 追放する peers who break the code of 行為／行う.

There has been 関心 that 現在の House of Lords 支配するs are too weak to を取り引きする peers who 違反 the Code of 行為／行う.

At 現在の, peers are 任命するd for life and can be stripped of their 肩書を与える only by the passage of an 行為／法令／行動する of 議会 ? a 罰 which has not been used for nearly a century.

The only real ‘罰’ 利用できる is for Lords to be ‘指名するd and shamed’ in 議会. Admitting that ‘tougher 許可／制裁s’ were needed, Lady Royall yesterday ordered a review of the 存在するing 手続き ‘in its entirety’ to be carried out by the chairman of the 委員会 of 特権s, Lord Brabazon.

大きくする ?

The House of Lords: Four Labou r peers are under 調査

It almost certainly means that in 未来, any peers 有罪の of 悪事を働くこと could be 一時停止するd from the House and, in the most extreme 事例／患者s, expelled. And the new 支配するs could be 適用するd to the four peers now under 調査.

同様に as Lords Taylor and Snape, Lords Moonie and Truscott are also 申し立てられた／疑わしい to have said that they would take thousands of 続けざまに猛撃するs a year to work ‘behind the scenes’ on に代わって of a fictitious Hong Kong 実業家. All four 否定する 悪事を働くこと. Lord Snape, a former 労働 MP and whip, told peers: ‘As one of those 伴う／関わるd in this 出来事/事件, may I first of all apologise to your Lordships for bringing this House, if I have done so, into disrepute.’

Lord Taylor of Blackburn, a peer since 1978, 追加するd: ‘If I have done anything that has brought this House into disrepute, I most 謙虚に apologise.’

He is 申し立てられた／疑わしい to have 交渉するd a 料金 of £120,000 to tap up friends such as Lord Mandelson and Yvette Cooper ーするために 安全な・保証する a change to the 商売／仕事 率s
補足（する）s 法案 現在／一般に going through 議会.

He says no 契約 was 調印するd and no money changed 手渡すs.

A ‘swift and rigorous’ 調査 by the sub-委員会 on Lords 利益／興味s is already under way, while Scotland Yard is considering an 公式の／役人 （民事の）告訴 of 贈収賄 made by LibDem home 事件／事情／状勢s 広報担当者 Chris Huhne against Lords Taylor and Truscott.

In a letter to 事実上の／代理 主要都市の Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson, he said: ‘The 法律 must 適用する to everybody 関わりなく whether they are within the political system or outside it and this is a 特に 決定的な 主張 as it touches on the
honesty and 正直さ of the 議会の 過程.’

Scotland Yard said the 事柄 had been passed to the Specialist 罪，犯罪 Directorate, the squad which 扱うs the highest-profile and most serious 事例／患者s.

Gordon Brown also 重さを計るd into the 事件／事情／状勢. ‘These are very serious 主張 s,’ said the 総理大臣. ‘We’re 決定するd to get to the 底（に届く） of what happened. Whatever 活動／戦闘 needs to be taken will be taken.

THE PERKS

When …に出席するing the House, peers' allowances 含む:

• 夜通し subsistence: £174 per night.
• Daily subsistence:: £86.50 per day.
• Office 維持費s: £75 per day.
• Daily travel costs between home and Westminster or to other parts of the UK on 議会の 商売／仕事: Car 40p per mile; motorcycle 24p per mile; bicycle 20p per mile.
• First-class rail and 商売／仕事-class flights.
• 解放する／自由な postage. 貸付金 of two personal computers, a printer and a Blackberry-type phone 装置.
• Costs met for up to six return 旅行s per year for spouse and children to visit 議会.

THE RULES THAT BAR CASH FOR INFLUENCE

Peers are bound by the House of Lords Code of 行為／行う.

It 始める，決めるs out 支配するs under which they should 成し遂げる their 議会の 義務s and also 含むs the wider 条件s of personal 行為／行う drawn up by the 委員会 on 基準s in Public Life - applicable to those 持つ／拘留するing public office.

In general, the code makes （疑いを）晴らす that a peer 'must never 受託する any 財政上の 誘導 as an incentive or reward for 演習ing 議会の 影響（力）'.

That 支配する will be central to the 汚職 調査. Anyone trying to am end 提案するd 法律s in return for cash would almost certainly be breaking it.

But there are other, more 詳細（に述べる）d 規則s, which could also be 適用するd to the 事例／患者s 伴う／関わるing Lords Taylor, Truscott, Moonie and Snape. Peers are forbidden from 投票（する）ing or asking questions in the House or a 委員会 'in return for 支払い（額） or any other 構成要素 利益'. And they must also 登録（する） any remunerated service 供給するd by virtue of their position.

Under 基準s in public life, members should not take 決定／判定勝ち（する）s 'to 伸び（る） 財政上の or other 構成要素 利益s for themselves, family or friends'. However, peers are not paid a salary and it is perfectly 合法的な for them to 供給する general advice and to 行為／法令／行動する as 顧問s for outside 利益／興味s, although these must be fully and 公然と 宣言するd.

Unlike in the ありふれたs, any peer 設立する 有罪の of 不品行／姦通 cannot be 一時停止するd or deselected.

The worst 許可／制裁 議会 can 適用する is 最終的に 存在 '指名するd and shamed', although 犯罪の 主張s could be 調査／捜査するd by the police. A peerage can be 除去するd only by 行為／法令／行動する of 議会.