A Conservative MP has angrily denied that he voted to keep Boris Johnson as his party leader in exchange for “a bag of cash” for his constituency after being accused of “corruption” in the Commons.
Isle of Wight MP Bob Seely wrote on his website that he had backed the Prime Minister in his vote of confidence “only after a discussion with senior ministers”.
Seely told voters ministers had assured him they would “look back” at South Coast Island funding hours before Monday’s vote.
In furious exchanges in the Commons on Wednesday, the shadow that raised the level of Secretary Lisa Nandy said the conversation behind it “sounds terribly corrupt to me.”
Commonwealth Vice President Eleanor Laing asked Nandy to drop the allegation, after Seely said it was a “complete lie.”
The line follows reports that some Conservative MPs were offered jobs in government in exchange for supporting Johnson in the vote of confidence.
Nandy had been tackling a second reading of the government’s leveling and regeneration bill when he asked Secretary of State Michael Gove if he knew of Seely’s statement.
She said: “I can ask the Secretary of State: was he aware of it? Did he sign it? Because that sounds terribly corrupt to me.”
Seely immediately demanded that Nandy drop the “completely false” accusation and said, “She doesn’t fully understand and is completely wrong.”
The Isle of Wight MP said Johnson had promised a few years ago to correct a “policy flaw” and give more funding to his constituency. Seely said he reminded Johnson of that promise before Monday’s vote.
He told lawmakers: “I told the Prime Minister: You agree to rectify this mistake, which is a policy flaw, and he said yes, and I reminded him of that promise before. Then I asked for a cash bag. “No, and it’s completely untrue that she says that, so you can get up now and apologize.”
Seely then shouted “Retreat” through the House of Commons as Nandy got up.
Nandy said she was quoting Seely’s statement on her own website as Seely said “false” in the background.
When raising a point of order, in which deputies draw attention to a violation of the rule by another member, he added: “This is a very serious complaint. Corruption has been alleged and not there is no basis for this and it should be withdrawn “.
Dame Laing said she was not in a position to judge whether Nandy was misrepresenting Seely’s statement, so she asked the Labor MP to drop the “very serious” charge.
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Nandy agreed to withdraw the “corruption” comment, but said it “seems very dubious”.
Seely later called the accusation “silly” and said: “For the record, I do not apologize for persuading the government to treat the Isle of Wight like any other island in the UK. The island is the most “I am twice as represented in this country. We are twice as far apart as the sea.
Asked earlier about Seely’s comments, the prime minister’s spokesman said the money for local areas was decided through a process led by officials.