Tory chairman and North Yorkshire MP cleared after standards probe

Kevin Hollinrake, the MP for Thirsk and Malton, did not breach the House of Commons Code of Conduct, an investigation has concluded.

An investigation was launched into the MP for allegedly lobbying the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards over the independent officer’s decision-making, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) revealed in July.

​The alleged breach related to Rule 14 of the Code of Conduct for Members of the House, which states that “Members must not lobby the Commissioner in a manner calculated or intended to influence his consideration of whether a breach of the Code of Conduct has occurred, or in relation to the imposition of a sanction”.

Despite clearing Mr Hollinrake of the allegations, the full details of the case remain confidential until a separate ongoing inquiry concludes.

The interim report by the Committee on Standards found that on May 22, Mr Hollinrake wrote to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards regarding an active investigation involving another MP.

Because the Commissioner had received the communication, the matter was referred to the Committee on Standards, which is required to consider such cases.

The committee concluded: “Mr Hollinrake did not lobby the Commissioner and therefore did not breach Rule 14.”

The committee said it was publishing an interim report because the separate investigation connected to the case remains ongoing and it did not want to risk breaching confidentiality or affecting the progress of that inquiry.

Other Members of Parliament currently under investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards include Nigel Farage over an alleged “failure to register an interest”.

​As Chairman of the Conservative Party, Mr Hollinrake referred Reform UK’s leader Nigel Farage to the same commissioner over an alleged failure to register an interest in relation to a £5m gift that was given to Mr Farage before he was first elected MP for Clacton.

The inquiry was suspended this summer after Mr Farage, who said he had “done no wrong”, resigned as Clacton MP and ran again to allow his constituents to “be the judges of his actions”.

Following his re-election as MP for Clacton, the investigation has resumed.

Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice MP is also under investigation, with the commissioner looking into an alleged case of “disclosing details in relation to an investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards”.

The commissioner is also investigating the DUP’s Sammy Wilson MP over an alleged “failure to declare an interest” and Labour’s Mike Reader MP over alleged “late registration of interests”.

​An inquiry does not mean that rules have been broken.

Mr Hollinrake was contacted for a comment but did not respond by the time of publication.