Byers refers himself to sleaze watchdog over lobbying row

One of the former ministers embroiled in the lobbying row said today he had asked Parliament's sleaze watchdog to investigate his conduct.

Ex-transport secretary Stephen Byers said he had referred himself to John Lyon and believed he would be cleared of any wrongdoing.

The move came as pressure mounted over allegations that senior Labour figures had offered to use their influence and contacts in return for cash.

Mr Byers said: "I am confident that (Mr Lyon) will confirm that I have complied with the MPs' code of conduct and have fully disclosed my outside interests."

There was cross-party condemnation yesterday of former ministers who were caught in an undercover "sting" operation for a television documentary.

The revelations forced Labour to rush forward a promise to enforce a compulsory register of lobbying which it said had been planned for the election manifesto.

But Tory leader David Cameron said the case raised wider questions about whether the MPs and the serving Cabinet ministers they were alleged to have influenced had breached rules.

"These are shocking allegations. First of all, the House of Commons needs to conduct a thorough investigation into these (former) Labour ministers," he said.

"But also the Prime Minister would want to get to the bottom of the accusations being made about his Government."

Shadow leader of the Commons Sir George Young told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: "The allegations are quite serious - that Government policy was changed to the potential disbenefit of taxpayers and consumers as a result of (Mr Byers') lobbying.

"I think it is quite wrong that contacts and knowledge gained when you are a minister should then be used for private gain.

"It's certainly against the rules for MPs to lobby a minister without revealing if they have a financial interest."

All of the MPs filmed, including former Cabinet ministers Mr Byers, Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon, denied any wrongdoing and insisted they had breached no rules.

But serving ministers said the behaviour of their colleagues had been "appalling" and "ridiculous", and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg called it "very, very sleazy".

Mr Byers was among retiring MPs interviewed by an undercover reporter posing as the representative of a fictitious US lobbying firm.

He told the undercover reporter he had secured secret deals with ministers, could get confidential information from Number 10 and was able to help firms involved in price-fixing get around the law.

The Sunday Times, which carried out the interviews with Channel 4's Dispatches programme, said Mr Byers, who held several key Cabinet portfolios such as trade and transport, wanted £5,000 a day.

The North Tyneside MP retracted his claims the following day - insisting he had "never lobbied ministers on behalf of commercial interests" and had exaggerated his influence.

But there were immediate demands by opposition parties and a trade union for an inquiry into a series of policy changes that Mr Byers, who called himself "a cab for hire", said he secured.

Among Mr Byers' boasts was that he had come to a secret deal with current Transport Secretary Lord Adonis over the termination of a rail franchise contract and that Business Secretary Lord Mandelson had got regulations on food labelling amended after he intervened on behalf of a supermarket giant.

All parties firmly denied the claims but the Tories and Liberal Democrats will today table a series of Parliamentary questions seeking clarification from ministers about the claims and whether there had been any breach of the Ministerial Code.

Ms Hewitt, who served as health secretary, said she "completely rejected" the suggestion that she helped obtain a key seat on a Government advisory group for a client paying her £3,000 a day.

The work under discussion would have been taken up after she stepped down at the imminent general election and was no longer subject to the MPs' code of conduct, she pointed out.

Mr Hoon was reported to have wanted a £3,000-a-day fee for work which would allow him to turn his political knowledge and contacts "into something that frankly makes money".

"At no stage did I offer, nor would I attempt to, sell confidential or privileged information arising from my time in government," he said.

Of 20 politicians contacted by the programme-makers, 15 agreed to meet and 10 were invited in for interviews - nine of those being secretly filmed, of which six feature in the documentary.

The others were Labour's Margaret Moran, Baroness Morgan and Tory MP Sir John Butterfill.

An influential Commons committee called more than a year ago for a compulsory detailed register of all lobbying activity overseen by a powerful watchdog.

In response, the industry said it would merge a number of trade bodies to oversee activities and the Government said it would give the voluntary arrangement a chance to prove itself.

In his statement today, Mr Byers also stressed that he had not been contacted by Tesco corporate affairs director Lucy Neville-Rolfe over food labelling regulations.

A spokesman for the supermarket said: "We did not speak to Mr Byers on food labelling, regulation or indeed any other issue.

"These claims are completely fictitious and Mr Byers has acknowledged this to us."

Mr Cameron told Sky News: "What we need is not just a parliamentary investigation, welcome though that is. What we need is a Government investigation into what these ex-ministers have done.

"Let's be clear about what's at stake here. These ministers, Hewitt and Byers, were claiming that they changed Government policy, they got people appointed, they cost the taxpayer money.

"They are making these claims and that goes to the heart of the issue of the integrity of the Government.

"We have written to Gus O'Donnell, the Permanent Secretary at Number 10, to get him to investigate, looking at all the departments mentioned to see what happened.

"It is a question of Government integrity. It can't be left as it is."