UK lawmaker faces suspension for breaching lobbying rules

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s parliamentary standards watchdog says a Conservative lawmaker should be suspended from the House of Commons for breaking lobbying rules. Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone said Owen Paterson lobbied the government in 2016 and 2017 on behalf of two companies that were paying him. They were the clinical diagnostics company Randox and the meat-processing firm Lynn’s Country Foods. The Commons Standards Committee said Paterson’s actions were an “egregious case of paid advocacy” and had “brought the House into disrepute.” It recommended that he be suspended from the House of Commons for 30 sitting days. Lawmakers will vote on whether to approve the suspension. Paterson called the investigation “biased.”