Matt Hancock has been forced to apologise after parliament’s sleaze watchdog found he broke House of Commons rules by trying to lobby an official investigating another Conservative MP for lobbying. The former health secretary, who sits as an independent, having been stripped of the Tory whip, was found to have committed only a “mild” breach of the rules.
However, Hancock was given a rap on the knuckles for a “lack of attention” to the MPs’ code of conduct. An update endorsed by MPs in December 2022 makes “lobbying the commissioner in a manner calculated or intended to influence his consideration” a specific offence.
