London--Two British former foreign ministers faced claims Monday that they offered to use their positions to help a private company in return for cash following an undercover investigation.
Jack Straw, who was Labour foreign secretary when Britain helped invade Iraq in 2003, and Malcolm Rifkind, a senior figure in Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative party, were accused after a probe by the Daily Telegraph newspaper and Channel 4 television.
Both deny any wrongdoing but are the latest in a wave of lawmakers to be accused of seeking to profit from offering private companies privileged access to advance their interests.
The allegations come 10 weeks before a knife-edge general election in Britain and threaten to put the issue of political ethics back on the agenda.
In a sting by undercover reporters, the two politicians are said to have offered to act on behalf of a fictitious Hong Kong-based company at a price of at least £5,000 (6,800 euros, $7,700) a day.
Rifkind reportedly said he could arrange "useful access" to every British ambassador globally.
Straw is said to have used his parliamentary office for meetings about consultancy work and claimed that he had operated "under the radar" to help change EU rules in work for a commodities firm.
While members of parliament are not banned from topping up their earnings by working for private companies, there are strict rules around how they should do so, including declaring all interests on a public register and not using parliamentary resources in doing so.
Five years ago, Cameron warned that corporate lobbying was the "next big scandal" waiting to hit parliament.
AFP
