OWEN PATERSON resigned as an MP today after Tory MPs blocked his suspension for breaking lobbying rules and called for an overhaul of the Commons standards watchdog instead. 

They initially had the backing of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, but Downing Street reversed its decision after a furious backlash.

Mr Paterson said he now wants a life “outside the cruel world of politics.”

In a statement the 65-year-old, who first became North Shropshire’s MP in 1997, said his integrity had been “repeatedly and publicly questioned” and claimed he was “totally innocent.”

Hours earlier, the PM had backed down on plans to prevent Mr Paterson’s immediate suspension by launching a review of the entire disciplinary system.

Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg said ministers will now seek cross-party changes after acknowledging a “certain amount of controversy.”

Mr Johnson was forced into a humiliating retreat after Labour and other opposition parties refused to sit on any alternative bodies set up. 

Tory MPs also expressed anger after they were ordered to back the controversial move that triggered a new sleaze row after numerous allegations of cronyism over contracts awarded during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The climbdown came shortly after committee on standards in public life chairman Lord Evans condemned the plans as being “deeply at odds with the best traditions of British democracy.”

The cross-party group concluded last week that Mr Paterson had misused his position as an MP to benefit two firms he worked for, after a damning report on his behaviour by independent standards commissioner Kathryn Stone.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the “unbelievable” episode had been a “truly damning indictment of this Prime Minister and the corrupt government he leads.

“Boris Johnson must now apologise to the entire country for this grubby attempt to cover up for the misdemeanour of his friend.”

Labour MP Richard Burgon announced today that he will present a private member’s Bill to the Commons later this month calling for MPs to be banned from having paid second jobs. 

While the Leeds East MP said certain exemptions for those working in health services are needed, he tweeted that there is “simply no excuse for a situation where MPs have lucrative second jobs as so-called ‘advisers’ or ‘consultants’.”