LONDON, (Reuters) – British government ministers said yesterday they were “appalled” by the behaviour of former colleagues after media claims they had offered to try to influence policy in return for cash.
The former ministers were filmed by an undercover reporter apparently offering to carry out lobbying work in return for fees of up to 5,000 pounds a day.
One, former transport secretary Stephen Byers, was caught on camera describing himself as like “a sort of cab for hire”. The claims, reported in the Sunday Times newspaper while clips of Byers’s interview were aired on TV news channels, come less than a year after British lawmakers were shamed by a parliamentary expenses scandal.
“What on earth do they think they were doing?” Finance Minister Alistair Darling told BBC TV. Foreign Secretary David Miliband said there was “absolutely no room for anyone to trade on their ministerial office”.
“I was appalled by what was said,” Miliband told Sky News.