Tory faces Commons ban over £800 tours

A senior Tory MP is set to be suspended from the Commons after an anti-sleaze watchdog criticised his links to a firm offering £800 tours around Parliament.

Former shadow minister Jonathan Sayeed's behaviour had "fallen well below the standards" expected of MPs and should make a full apology, the Standards and Privileges Committee ruled today.

Its scathing report centred on claims Mr Sayeed had joint ownershipof The English Manner, a company that shows wealthy tourists around the Commons.

It concluded he should have done more to minimise the risk of a conf lict of interest between his responsibilities as an MP and his personal involvement in the firm.

The watchdog ruled that the former-Royal Navy officer should be suspended from Parliament for two weeks because his conduct "risked damaging its reputation".

A final vote of the whole Commons is expected to confirm the suspension in the next few days.

Conservative leader Michael Howard immediately announced Mr Sayeed had been suspended from the party whip for a month.

"What he did was completely unacceptable and I condemn it without hesitation," he said. The 56-year-old MP now faces a deselection from the safe seat of Mid-Bedfordshire. In a statement, a defiant Mr Sayeed said the committee's sanctions were "wrong, unjust and contrary to the evidence" seen by the Parliamentary Commissioner, Sir Philip Mawer.

He said he had never used his access to the Commons or its facilities for commercial gain and that he had acted only as a consultant to The English Manner.

Mr Sayeed told the Evening Standard he had asked the chairman of his constituency association to be allowed to speak at its executive meeting this month. His future as an MP is likely to be challenged, party insiders said.

The row erupted last year when a newspaper revealed that Mr Sayeed's constituency assistant, Alexandra Messervy, was also a majority shareholder in the USbased tour company. Mr Sayeed has a 30 per cent shareholding.

The Sunday Times said that its reporter had been offered a day's tour of Parliament at a cost of $1,500 (£800) and that the MP had conducted a "familiarisation" visit for tourism journalists.

Mr Sayeed also gave a tour of Westminster for 14 US Supreme Court judges and their families after the visit had been organised by Ms Messervy.