Ex-MP Geoff Hoon loses his ‘cash for advice’ court fight
DISGRACED former Labour Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has lost a court battle claim that his human rights had been breached when he was named in a “money for influence” scandal.
Former MP Geoff Hoon lost his court battle
Barrister and former MP Hoon, 61, told the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg that details of a scathing Parliamentary probe into claims he offered his knowledge and contacts for cash should never have been published for voters to read.
Millionaire Hoon will now have to pay a five-figure legal bill after judges ruled the public had a right to know he had breached the MPs’ Code of Conduct.
Labour suspended him in March 2010 after a sting by journalists in which he said he charged £3,000 a day for his advice and wanted to use his political “knowledge and contacts” for “something that makes money”.
He and two other MPs – Stephen Byers and Patricia Hewitt – were investigated by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
A hard-hitting report demanded his Parliamentary pass be revoked for five years.
He now works for helicopter-maker AgustaWestland.
In 2009 Hoon was also caught up in the MPs’ expenses scandal over claims he had made while living rent-free in Admiralty House.