Downing Street has declined to rule out the possibility Owen Paterson could receive a peerage after his decision to step down as a Conservative MP amid a lobbying scandal. Boris Johnson’s spokesperson also did not deny reports that some Tory MPs had been warned they could lose future funding for their constituencies if they did not support a Commons vote to halt punishment for Paterson and rip up the anti-sleaze rules he broke. Paterson, a former Northern Ireland and environment secretary, announced on Thursday he would quit the Commons. It came hours after Johnson withdrew his support for moves to shield Paterson from punishment for lobbying on behalf of two companies who paid him more than £100,000 a year between them.
MPs had been due on Wednesday to vote on Paterson’s 30-day Commons suspension for what the standards committee called an “egregious case” of breaching lobbying rules. But instead Downing Street backed an amendment suspending the punishment and creating a new standards body with a built-in Tory majority. Following an outcry over perceived corruption, and disquiet among many Tory MPs, Johnson U-turned on Thursday, prompting Paterson, who has never accepted any wrongdoing, to resign as MP for North Shropshire. Asked about reports the disgraced MP could be made a peer, Johnson’s spokesperson said: “I’ve seen the speculation on that. There’s obviously a formal process for peerages, which isn’t one for me.” A Downing Street source did deny Johnson had specifically discussed the idea of a peerage with Paterson before he resigned. However, they did not rule out a future move to the Lords. The Financial Times reported that party whips warned at least one MP they could lose future funding for their constituencies if they did not vote for the amendment on Wednesday. “You’ll appreciate that questions around whipping are not ones for me,” he said. “More broadly there is obviously a lot of speculation around today which I’m not going to get into.” Asked to confirm he was not denying this, he added: “It’s not a question for me, it’s a question for the whips’ office.”