UK parliament votes to shake-up rules to halt suspension of Conservative lawmaker

FILE PHOTO: Owen Paterson leaves Winfield House in London, Britain, June 4, 2019. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - British lawmakers voted on Wednesday to halt the suspension of a member of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party who was found to have broken rules on paid lobbying, instead backing an overhaul of the process of investigating politicians.

A Committee on Standards report said Owen Paterson committed an "egregious case of paid advocacy" by repeatedly using his position to promote two companies, who together paid him nearly three times his annual parliamentary salary.