Another by-election loss looms for Rishi

It never rains but it pours for our beleaguered Prime Minister. Less than a week after the Tories were defeated in both the Wellingborough and Kingswood by-elections, Rishi Sunak is now facing the loss of yet another Tory-held seat. Scott Benton this morning lost his appeal against his 35-day suspension from parliament, following a Times investigation in which he offered to lobby for gambling industry investors. Talk about a bad bet…

Benton offered to table parliamentary questions, provide ‘behind the scenes’ information and ‘call in favours’ from colleagues to help the commercial interests of a fake company despite rules prohibiting MPs from acting as paid lobbyists. The standards committee ruled in December that he should be suspended from the Commons without pay for 35 days – enough to take him above the 10-day threshold which can trigger the recall process. Benton appealed on the grounds that the report had been leaked to the media and contained factual inaccuracies.