Owen Paterson had to quit; he brought democracy into disrepute – The Yorkshire Post says

Instead, it’s about the conduct of this government – and its propensity for breaking the conventions that had made the Houses of Parliament the envy of the world after it had survived the climatic events of November 5, 1605.

Owen Paterson lobbying scandal destroys Nolan rules – The Yorkshire Post says

A quarter of a century after John Major’s administration imploded over sleaze, and over a decade after the expenses scandal eroded public trust, Boris Johnson’s contempt for Parliament is an insult to democracy when he is supposed to be showing global leadership at COP26.

After all, the charge sheet was damning before this week’s events – Mr Johnson misleading the Queen over the unlawful prorogation of Parliament; a willingness to flout international treaties over Brexit and the serial leaking of successive Budgets to avoid scrutiny.

Three of the more recent transgressions, the Paterson affair, where he was paid more than £100,000 a year by two firms and then sought meetings on their behalf to influence policy, had the potential to be the most serious because of the steps that MPs were willing to take to defend serial rule-breaking.

Let The Yorkshire Post acknowledge, here and now, those MPs like Thirsk and Malton’s Kevin Hollinrake and Gill Mortimer, the North Yorkshire farmer who represents Hartlepool, who stood up to the party machine because they feared – rightly – that this episode would “look like powerful people are above the law”. The same applies to Angela Richardson who abstained in the vote to veto Mr Paterson’s suspension, and lost her job as an aide to Michael Gove, the Levelling Up Secretary, as a result of her ‘disloyalty’ before being reinstated hours later.

This is one of the absurdities that happens when a governing party – the Tories in this instance – seizes control of Parliamentary discipline, and the upholding of the Nolan principles, from senior officials and the cross-party Standards Committee, the independent arbiters.

And that it has now emerged that 22 Tory MPs previously investigated or censured by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards were part of the Paterson sham will add to the public’s incredulity – their votes made all the difference and allowed this travesty of democracy to go ahead before the Speaker consented to an emergency Commons debate on Monday and Mr Paterson then suddenly quitting.

That Mr Paterson pre-empted this next debate is belated recognition that he, and his party, should have acted very differently when judgement was first passed on his behaviour in a case made unique by both its political and tragic personal circumstances.

However the bigger question is this: what do MPs intend to do in future to stop corruption like this, restore trust and inspire talented people who share the public’s values to stand for high office? It’s one that they cannot afford to shirk – our democracy still depends on the outcome reached.

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