David Cameron demands investigations into Stephen Byers and the ex-ministers offering to lobby their former colleagues for cash

David Cameron has just demanded an investigation into the allegations that former Cabinet ministers have discussed offers to lobby the government in return for considerable sums of money - up to £5,000 a day in the case of Stephen Byers.

I first highlighted the story on this LeftWatch post last night and you can read the Sunday Times' full report on Byers here.

Mr Cameron has just described the allegations being made as "shocking" and said it was "appalling" to hear former Labour ministers "trading off their power" and describing themselves as being like "a cab for hire".

He said that there needed to be a thorough investigation conducted by the House of Commons, but that the Prime Minister himself also needed to get to the bottom of  the "very serious allegations about how this government behaves".  Indeed, the Sunday Times report about Byers, for example, reports that he boasted about how phone calls on behalf of others to Lords Mandelson and Adonis had changed policy last year.  

The Tory leader said that he had been fearing a scandal of this nature for some time; indeed, he made a speech promising to curb the power of lobbyists just last month.

Mr Cameron added that the situation was further evidence of a party which has been in government for too long and lost touch with why they are meant to be there.

In case you've not yet seen it, the following Sky News report begins with the shocking clips of the secretly-recorded conversation the undercover reporter had with Stephen Byers.

Jonathan Isaby