MP denies acting as paid lobbyist after undercover inquiry

Tim Yeo, who heads the Energy and Climate Change Committee, is facing a sleaze investigation after an undercover Sunday Times investigation appeared to show him claiming he could exert influence behind the scenes for private companies.

The Tory MP pulled out of a number of interviews yesterday but chose to appear on BBC Radio Wales and insisted he would not quit his chairmanship while the allegations are investigated.

The newspaper showed Mr Yeo suggesting that he had coached a client, John Smith, managing director of GB Rail Freight, on how to influence the committee – a meeting at which he excused himself asking questions.

“I was able to tell him in advance what he should say,” he said.

He told a BBC interviewer the alleged coaching amounted to a brief conversation on a train journey. He added: “I did not coach John Smith as the paper alleges, he’s not a paying client as the paper alleges, and like many business executives giving evidence to select committees, he actually sought advice from the public affairs company which his company retains for that purpose.”

Mr Yeo referred himself to parliamentary standards commissioner Kathryn Hudson after the Sunday Times sting. Its reporters approached the MP posing as representatives of a solar energy company, offering to hire him at £7,000 a day to push for new laws.

House of Commons rules forbid members from acting as paid advocates.