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Boris Johnson said on Thursday he would be willing to complete a formal inquiry by the election commission to find out whether there had been a breach of funding rules to downsize Downing Street as Labor called for a parliamentary probe into his conduct.
While visiting a school in London, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom said he had full confidence in the commission of inquiry into the alleged donations made to renovate his residence.
But Johnson insisted once again that people have a greater interest in the fight against coronavirus than the number of inquiries that have arisen around the alleged “stupidity” that the Labor opposition party has around Johnson and the Conservatives in government.
“We’ll do whatever they want and I don’t think there’s anything to see or worry about here,” he said. “I think it’s not a matter of people focusing very carefully, but of what we’re doing to lead this country through the pandemic.”
His comments prompted Margaret Hodge, a senior foreign labor expert, to ask parliamentary commissioner Kathryn Stone to investigate whether Johnson had violated a parliamentary code of conduct for alleged donations related to weight renewal.
In a letter issued Thursday afternoon, Hodge asked Stone to review funding for the rehabilitation and whether Johnson had declared possible donations in an appropriate manner.
“Boris Johnson’s utter contempt for the rules cannot be left unchecked. Chronism, dirt or breaking the rule on its own must be fully investigated, ”he said he tweeted on Thursday.
Stone can refer serious cases to the rules committee, which has the power to order a temporary suspension of the parliament in extreme situations.
The news follows an announcement by the Electoral Commission, which said on Wednesday that they were formally investigating the financing of the weighted work and whether they had declared it properly.
A filtered email he suggested last week that the Tory couple David Brownlow had not donated £ 58,000 aimed at restoring Johnson’s weight, according to the Daily Mail.
The commission said it had decided to launch a full probe after “there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offense or an offense may have occurred” because it had contacted the Conservative party in early March.
The research is one of three consultations to examine how money was spent on weight renovation. But unlike the other two probes ordered by Downing Street – one made by new independent advisers on ministerial interests Lord Christopher Geidt and the other by cabinet secretary Simon Case – the commission’s investigation is truly independent, according to experts.
It has been reported that it is the legal powers of the committee (which allow for the request for documents and texts and e-mails and for discreetly interviewing people).
On the contrary, after Johnson refused to commit to publishing Geidt’s findings in full, Labor argued that the new role of ministerial interest adviser was meaningless because it lacked real power.
As a regulator of elections and political funding, the commission has the power to impose fines and, if it believes a crime has been committed, to report the case to the police.
“The Electoral Commission is investigating offenses against the law and is conducting it in a formal and legal context as a regulator with the power to impose sanctions,” explained Cambridge University professor David Howarth and former board member.
“This is completely different from the investigations carried out by the two people who may have been released by Boris Johnson and who have no legal position at all and no legal capacity.”
The length of the investigation will determine how cooperative people are investigating and the complexity of the case, Howarth added. He said the commission is known for its “methodical and careful processes”.
Lord John Horam, a life-long Conservative member and former committee member, said the independence of the regulator is key to carrying out its work. Appoints committee members inter-party group approved by Parliament and the House of Commons.
“He is completely independent and has a responsibility to the legislature – he is subordinate to the Speaker of the House,” he said.
Some senior Conservative party officials take a different approach to the commission, given the history of recent investigations.
In 2017, it was a party fine £ 70,000, a commission made in the 2015 general election and earlier by-elections was £ 70,000, but subsequent police conducted an investigation into the criminal conviction fall.
Recently, the regulator upset many Conservatives over the management of research into the funding of the voting campaign, with prominent Conservatives on its advisory panel, including Johnson.
The commission fined the group 61,000 euros in 2018, but later had to cancel a 20,000 euro fine imposed on Darren Grimes for directing a special group to the campaign. The probe also launched a police investigation fall in May last year.
Writing Telegraph a few months later, Conservative President Amanda Milling called for an independent review of the organization, arguing that it was “irresponsible, with little external challenge or scrutiny over its decisions.”
This sentiment was reported to the head of the People’s House by Jacob Rees-Mogg, who told Parliament that the committee was in “need of serious reform”.
A Conservative councilor said the commission was “incompetent” and added: “The only body that does not investigate anything is the Electoral Commission and the sooner it is abolished, the better.”
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