UK government makes U-turn on corruption rule change as lawmaker quits

FILE PHOTO: Owen Paterson leaves Winfield House during U.S. President Donald Trump's state visit in London, Britain, June 4, 2019. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government made an embarrassing U-turn on Thursday on plans to overhaul the system for combating parliamentary corruption, with the lawmaker whose case had provoked the row quitting his job.

Faced with unhappiness in his party and headlines accusing the prime minister and his Conservative administration of "sleaze", the government said it would think again about proposals it had pushed through parliament only the day before.