Verdict on Hamilton and others

Sleaze Report Handed to MPs

There have been no leaks from the Standards and Privileges Committee which received the report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Sir Gordon Downey - only a suggestion that it is strongly-worded.

It delivers judgement on whether the former MP and minister, Neil Hamilton, accepted cash from Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed in return for asking questions on his behalf in the Commons. Mr Hamilton denies the allegations, although he has said he accepted free trips and commissions.

The report will also pass judgement on the former Northern Ireland Minister, Tim Smith, who stood down as MP for Beaconsfield before the election. He has admitted taking money from Mr Al Fayed.

Sir Gordon's long awaited report is soon to be published

In all, ten Tories feature in the report, all of whom either stood down or lost their seats at the election.

The report was delayed by the election, and senior members of the Standards and Privileges Committee would now like to draw a line under the whole sleaze affair. However, the saga could drag on if Mr Hamilton and Mr Al Fayed insist on a right of reply.

And new allegations against Labour members of undeclared trips and interests are already in the pipeline.

"There are only a limited number of ways in which we can take action on one or two particular cases, but of course the views of the committee are important and of course they will serve as a reminder to anyone else who wants to take some actions that the committee clearly would find wrong.

"And of course we'll be setting down the rules quite clearly for the whole of this parliament," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme. "At the end of it, you must remember that the test of this committee is how far the public perception of MPs is going to change.

"We must make sure the perception of the standards in the House of Commons must be substantially higher at the end of this parliament than it has been over the last few years."

Mr Barnes urged the committee to focus "on the core issue of the Fayed 'cash for questions' allegations" which had "all too often been obscured by comments on peripheral matters already dealt with by the previous committee. Of all the injustices heaped upon Neil Hamilton over the past two-and-a-half years, the failure of the administration to provide time for the publication of the report from the Parliamentary Commissioner on the `cash for questions' issue - before the election - was perhaps the worst."

"I look forward confidently to a positive decision in favour of Mr Hamilton from the committee and the full publication of all the facts of the case to finally remove the uncertainty which hangs like a dark cloud over Neil Hamilton's future," Mr Barnes said.