Hitchin MP Bim Afolami has voted for a controversial shake-up of rules on parliamentary conduct this week - to the fury of a large number of Nub News readers.

Our town's parliamentarian sided with the government to pause the process and review the watchdog that delves into allegations of wrongdoing at Westminster.

Mr Afolami was one of 246 confirmed MPs that voted to consider reforming the House of Commons standards system, which also resulted in halting the suspension of Owen Paterson, a former Conservative minister.

Mr Afolami's vote prompted a backlash from Nub News readers and Hitchin voters, with many asking why our town's Parliamentarian voted the way he did.

On Twitter, 'Peter Hitchin' @Hitchin64 wrote: 'Our MP voted to let Owen Paterson off the hook', while Will Helms @WillHelmsMan simply wrote: 'Disgusting.'

Egregious breach of rules

The move comes after the former cabinet minister was found to have committed an 'egregious' breach of lobbying rules, which could have seen the former environment secretary face losing his seat if enough constituents trigged a by-election.

Paterson faced a six week suspension after a standards committee ruled that he had breached lobbying rules after it was found that two companies were paying him more than £100,000 a year.

However, the vote to amendment the motion to suspend Paterson, that was proposed by former House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom and backed by PM Boris Johnson - was passed with a majority of 18, which included Mr Afolami's vote.

The amendment has effectively stopped any punishment for Paterson until a new cross-party committee looks into the parliamentary standards system.

The Labour Party tweeted: "The Tories have voted to give a green light to corruption."

A colossal misjudgment

The PM has been accused of a 'colossal misjudgement' after 51 Tory MPs rebelled over the decision to block Paterson after he broke lobbying rules.

However, Hitchin's MP, Mr Afolami was not one of them.

Hitchin Nub News has approached Mr Afolami to ask for the reasons why he voted to amend the motion that prompted Labour leader Kier Starmer to accuse the Tories of 'wallowing in sleaze'.

More to follow...