Blackpool South MP Scott Benton suspended after appearing to offer to lobby for gambling investors

• A video report by Granada Reports correspondent Mel Barham

Tory MP Scott Benton is facing more revelations as new footage emerges of him allegedly boasting there were ways of keeping corporate hospitality secret.

The MP for Blackpool South was suspended by the party on Wednesday after footage appeared to show him offering to lobby for gambling investors for payment - despite rules prohibiting them from doing so.

The undercover investigation by The Times shows the Blackpool South MP explaining how he could use his position to try and limit the biggest reforms to gambling laws since 2005.

He was secretly filmed by undercover reporters from the newspaper who posed as investors for a fake company with interest in the betting and gaming industry who were looking for an adviser.

The video shows him boasting about his "easy access to ministers" claiming he could speak to them in between votes, or "literally sit outside" a minister’s office if the company needed an urgent answer to a question.

He also said he could “call in favours” from colleagues if needed.

MPs are banned from accepting money to raise issues with ministers or ask questions in parliament on behalf of clients - something known as lobbying.

A spokesperson for Chief Whip Simon Hart said: ”Following his self-referral to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards earlier this evening, Scott Benton has had the Conservative Party Whip suspended whilst an investigation is ongoing.”

Following the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal MPs are now also barred from acting as a parliamentary adviser or consultant, as well as giving advice on how to influence parliament.

The Times video shows Benton, if he had been paid, would have breached the rules in place.

The newspaper contacted a number of MPs offering paid work as an expert adviser, with Mr Benton suggesting he would be happy to be paid between £2,000 and £4,000 a month to help the fake company.

There is no suggestion Mr Benton broke any parliamentary rules or accept any financial payment.

Mr Benton has been approached by ITV News for comment but has not responded.

In response to The Times report, Mr Benton said he “had no further contact” with the fake company after the meeting and had been “concerned” that what was being asked of him breached the rules.

In a statement, he said: “Last month I was approached by a purported company offering me an expert advisory role. I met with two individuals claiming to represent the company to find out what this role entailed.

"After this meeting, I was asked to forward my CV and some other personal details. I did not do so as I was concerned that what was being asked of me was not within Parliamentary rules.

“I contacted the Commons Registrar and the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner who clarified these rules for me and had no further contact with the company.

"I did this before being made aware that the company did not exist and the individuals claiming to represent it were journalists.”

In a further revelation from the Times newspaper, Benton was also caught on camera saying there are ways for elected officials to dodge their requirement to declare corporate hospitality.

Scott Benton appeared to suggest MPs allow companies to put a falsely low value on tickets they have accepted for live sports and cultural events, in order to avoid the requirement to disclose hospitality worth #300 or more.

He was filmed laughing after telling undercover reporters they would "be amazed at the number of times I've gone to races and the ticket's come to #295" - just under the threshold.

In the new recording, Mr Benton said: "They could ask a question for you and it wouldn't be on the public record. If you gave somebody a ticket to the FA Cup final and it was #400, a) they would have to declare it and b) obviously if they then asked a question that would potentially flag up.

"So a lot of companies try to be quite cute about the level of the hospitality to make sure it falls just under so people don't have to declare it, it normally works for the company. And it normally works for MPs as well."

The new footage is likely to raise further questions about the scale of lobbying in Westminster and the risk of improper links between outside influencers and MPs sitting on APPGs.

In Scott Benton's constituency of Blackpool South, there were mixed views from the public, but many told ITV News they thought he'd been a good MP:

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the scandal showed how Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has lost control of his own MPs.

Sir Keir claimed that Blackpool South MP Mr Benton had showed "flagrant disregard" for the rules MPs were expected to follow.

He told broadcasters in Scunthorpe: "I think all of this shows that the Prime Minister has lost a grip and, if ever we needed further evidence, this is it, that Tory sleaze is back."

The Labour leader emphasised the importance of transparency for MPs and the need to follow hospitality rules, adding: "With Scott Benton, as we have seen, it is flagrant disregard of those rules and those principles."

Referencing a sting by political campaign group Led By Donkeys, Sir Keir said: "It is not a one-off. Only a few weeks ago we saw three other Tory MPs looking after lucrative jobs, thousands of pounds at the time, for their apparent advice."

Sir Keir also suggested he would back tighter gambling regulations, after reports that under-25s could be prevented from spending more than #2 a spin on slot machines.

The Government is currently carrying out a major review of gambling laws, mulling stricter regulations that could affect operators' profits.

"We do think regulations need to be tightened. We will look at what the Government puts forward," the Labour leader said.

Shadow culture secretary Lucy Powell meanwhile criticised the chaos around reforms to gambling laws.

She said: "We urgently need to update analogue gambling regulation so it is fit for the digital age, yet the Conservatives' failure to govern means we are still waiting for proposals to be published and debated in Parliament."

Mr Benton's actions had earlier earned the condemnation of a minister.

Transport minister Richard Holden told Times Radio: "This behaviour is totally unacceptable and I am glad that it is now going to be thoroughly investigated, all the claims made, and will be properly looked into."

Asked whether an MP's actions could get any worse than offering to leak confidential documents, Mr Holden curtly replied: "No."

When pressed that Mr Benton was a Conservative MP, the minister added: "He's not any more."

The body representing lobbyists, meanwhile, said the red wall MP should now consider his position.

Alastair McCapra, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), said: "It is hugely frustrating to read of yet another MP who apparently believes they can use their position to act on behalf of an external body for payment."

He added: "This country has moved on from the days of who-you-know-politics and it is frankly unethical and disingenuous to the public as well as to businesses who have a legitimate reason to have their voice heard by Government to be told otherwise.

"Mr Benton should apologise and consider his position."

Mr Benton was caught on camera telling undercover reporters posing as investors how he was willing to take actions which would break Parliament's lobbying rules.

Under those rules, MPs are forbidden from advocating a particular matter in the House or raising it with ministers in return for payment.

They are also prohibited from serving as a paid parliamentary adviser or consultant or guiding firms on ways to influence Parliament.

In a meeting in early March, Mr Benton described how he could support the fund, which he believed was set up by an Indian businessman looking to make investments in the UK betting and gaming sector, by attempting to water down proposed gambling reforms.

He also offered a "guarantee" to provide a copy of the upcoming gambling White Paper to the business at least two days before publication, potentially allowing it to benefit from market sensitive information.

The MP agreed with a fee proposed by the reporters in the range of #2,000 to #4,000 a month for two days' work.

Alongside his suspension, which means he no longer sits as a Tory in the Commons, Mr Benton has referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.

Another Conservative MP, Philip Davies, claimed he was also contacted by the fake company set up by The Times but did not fall for the sting.

The Shipley MP told GB News he thought there was something "very fishy" about the company, adding: "I went there knowing in my own mind this was a fake company who were just trying to do a sting.

"By the time the meeting had finished, I wasn't so sure anymore that they were a fake company. They were very, very good."

Separately, Conservative former minister Lord Swire has been made the subject of an inquiry by the House of Lords Commissioners for Standards' Office.

Lord Swire, formerly the Conservative MP for East Devon, is under investigation for "alleged non-registration of interests leading to potential breaches" of the House of Lords code of conduct.

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner tweeted: “That smell? The rotten stench of Tory sleaze. #CashForQuestions

“Yet another Conservative MP looking to line his own pockets while Sunak does nothing.

"This PM is failing to deliver the integrity he promised. Only Labour will clean up politics.”

Downing Street said it was first and foremost a matter for the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg, and whipping matters were for the Whips Office.

Scott Benton was elected as MP for Blackpool South in 2019, making it the first time since 1997 the constituency has been represented by a Conservative.

He won with a majority of 3,690, achieving a swing of 9.4%.

In January 2021 he was found to have broken Parliamentary rules, after failing to register six entries in the Register of Members' Financial Interests within the House's 28-day deadline, for payments received for his work as a Members' researcher.

He said it had been an "admin error" which meant his income from Calderdale Council had not been properly declared.

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