The Conservative MP for Blackpool South has been suspended from the parliamentary party after being caught indicating he would be willing to break lobbying rules for money
Scott Benton who is chair of the betting and gaming All-Party Parliamentary Group,has been stripped of the whip after it was revealed that he met reporters from The Times posing as employees of TAHR Partners, a fake company lobbying to influence government policy.
Benton told the paper that he had wanted to find out what the role entailed, but “I was concerned that what was being asked of me was not within parliamentary rules.”
He said he later “contacted the Commons registrar and the parliamentary standards commissioner who clarified these rules for me and had no further contact with the company … I did this before being made aware that the company did not exist.”
