Standards and Privileges Committee recommends that Geoff Hoon is barred from holding a Parliamentary pass for five years

by Paul Goodman

The BBC's report is headed "Geoff Hoon, Stephen Byers and Richard Caborn rebuked".  Sky's is called "Three Ex-MPs Face Parliamentary Ban".

According to the committee, Hoon committed a "particularly serious breach".  It recommends suspending Byers' pass for two years and Caborn's for six months.

The three former Cabinet Ministers were snared by a Sunday Times/Dispatches sting inquiring about services they'd be able to provide after leaving Parliament.

The inquiry found that Hoon had claimed that he had or could obtain confidential information about the government's strategic defence review that would be of benefit to business clients.  He thereby "brought the House of Commons and its members generally into disrepute".

As I tweeted earlier today, the timing suggests that "it's a good day to bury bad...."

P.S: His Imperial Pedantitude, John Rentoul, writes that what Jo Moore wrote was "It is now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury".