Patrick Mercer to quit as MP after Commons suspension
Disgraced former Conservative MP Patrick Mercer is to quit parliament after a sleaze watchdog recommended his suspension from the Commons for asking questions in parliament in return for money.
The Newark MP, who sits as an independent, said he would not argue with the findings of the Commons standards committee.
The committee will report its findings on Thursday, but a Commons source confirmed that it would recommend a six-month suspension.
Announcing his resignation, Mr Mercer said: “I’m hoping that the people of Newark, in Nottinghamshire, will be able to tolerate me in the future. I’m hoping that they will.
“I’m going to resign my seat in God’s county of Nottinghamshire, in the town of Newark, and I hope that my successor, who has been well and carefully chosen, will be the Conservative candidate.”
The resignation follows allegations that the Newark MP had set up an all-party parliamentary group (APPG) at the request of undercover reporters posing as lobbyists seeking to lift Fiji’s suspension from the Commonwealth.
Mr Mercer is alleged to have tabled Commons questions and offered a Westminster security pass after signing a deal with a lobbying firm that paid him £4,000 for seeking the readmission of Fiji to the Commonwealth.
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