Angela Richardson has been reappointed to her role as a ministerial aide to Michael Gove — less than 24 hours after being dismissed for defying the government on a vote to prevent Owen Paterson’s suspension.
The MP’s prompt return from a brief stint on the backbenches came after the government was forced to perform a humiliating U-turn, ditching plans for a Conservative-dominated committee to rewrite Commons sleaze rules.
Announcing the climbdown, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Commons leader, acknowledged that the vote last night preventing Mr Paterson’s suspension had “created a certain amount of controversy”.
The former Tory cabinet minister had been found by parliament’s independent standards commissioner to have lobbied ministers and regulators on 14 occasions on behalf of two private companies which paid him more than £100,000 a year.
Mr Richardson was among dozens of Conservative MPs to abstain — defying a three-line whip — as the government ordered its benches to neuter parliament’s sleaze watchdog and prevent Mr Paterson’s 30-day suspension.
In a tweet at 7.18pm on Thursday — shortly after the Commons vote — Angela Richardson said she had “enjoyed” being a parliamentary private secretary (PPS) to the senior Conservative minister Mr Gove.
“I abstained on the Leadsom amendment today aware that my job was at risk, but it was a matter of principle for me,” she insisted.
But in a remarkable turnaround, Ms Richardson posted on social media at 11.36am on Thursday that she was “pleased to be reappointed to my role as PPS to Michael Gove” — alongside a hashtag “LevellingUp”.
Reacting to reappointment, Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said: “As I’ve been saying, Tory ministers must outlaw fire and rehire. It’s a despicable and immoral practice.
“I never thought it would get quite as bad as them firing and rehiring members of their own frontbench, though.”
The government’s actions on Wednesday provoked fury from the opposition, including Sir Keir Starmer, who said Labour would not participate in the “utter shame process” and branded the move “corruption”.
Conservative MP Mark Harper — a former chief whip — also posted on Thursday: “This is one of the most unedifying episodes I have seen in my 16 years as a Member of Parliament.
“My colleagues should have not have been instructed, from the very top, to vote for this. This must not happen again.”
