David Warburton, an MP from Summerton and Fromm, is facing an inquiry from the Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards.
Conservatives stopped the Warburton whip in April after a series of allegations of sexual harassment and cocaine use emerged.
It is not the role of Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Catherine Stone to investigate these allegations. But her office announced Wednesday that it has launched an investigation into whether Warburton violated the code of conduct for lawmakers on three counts, including paid advocacy and non-declaration of a gift or other benefit.
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The Times reported in April that Warburton had asked the City’s Financial Conduct Authority to look more favorably on Russian financier Roman Zhukovsky, who had previously given him an undeclared loan of nearly £ 150,000 for a rental property.
When the allegations against Warburton first surfaced, the Sunday Times published a photo, allegedly from February, of him sitting next to rows of cocaine. It was then claimed to have been taken into the home of a younger woman he had met through politics.
Warburton, who is married and has two children, insisted at the time that he had “a huge amount of protection, but unfortunately the way things work means it doesn’t come out first.”
Allegations of sexual harassment involving MPs can be investigated by the Independent Complaints and Complaints Scheme (ICGS) if a complaint is lodged with it. Warburton is believed to be under investigation by the ICGS, but it has not revealed who he is looking for until a verdict is reached.
It was the investigation of the Commissioner for Lobbying Standards by Owen Patterson that led to the former Conservative MP facing potential removal from the House of Commons and eventually resigning after a failed attempt to save him from Boris Johnson.
The Liberal Democrats have taken Patterson’s place in North Shropshire and hope to win Tiverton and Honiton on Thursday in other dirt-related by-elections convened after Tory MP Neil Parish was caught watching pornography in the House of Commons.
Ed Davy’s party will enjoy another place in the Southwest if Warburton’s behavior is found to be potentially removed from the municipalities.
Any suspension of 10 days or more per session could trigger an election call if 10% of voters in the constituency sign a petition calling for one. This happened in the case of Fiona Onasanya, a Labor MP convicted of distorting justice for speeding, for example.
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