LONDON — In a renewed debate about the probity of British lawmakers, two of the most senior members of Parliament, both former foreign secretaries, on Monday denied wrongdoing after being caught by an undercover reporter posing as the representative of a Hong Kong-based company that purportedly sought to hire them.
“These are very serious allegations,” Malcolm Rifkind, a member of the governing Conservative Party and the head of a parliamentary panel responsible for oversight of British intelligence agencies, told the BBC on Monday. “They are unfounded, and I’m going to fight them with all my strength.”
Mr. Rifkind and the second lawmaker, Jack Straw, of the opposition Labour Party, both said they had asked for Parliament’s standards commissioner to investigate their cases.
–
In 2009, weeks of newspaper disclosures and political turmoil swirled around dubious expense accounts claimed by legislators, forcing a string of lawmakers and ministers to quit and denting public faith in the political elite.
Go to Home Page »
