MPs Layla Moran and Crispin Blunt used parliamentary offices for paid meeting

Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran and Conservative MP Crispin Blunt have admitted using their House of Commons offices for a non-parliamentary paid meeting.

For an event last November organised by law firm Bindmans LLP, the two MPs appeared via video link on a panel discussing political prisoners in Saudi Arabia.

Moran was paid £3,000 for the appearance and Blunt received £6,000, according to the register of financial interests for MPs,

Moran, MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, has since apologised, saying she “deeply regretted” the meeting.

Blunt, the MP for Reigate, said that MPs were being subjected to an “absurd feeding frenzy” and that it did not occur to him that using a room in Parliament at no cost to the taxpayer would be an issue.

While politicians are allowed to have second jobs outside Westminster, the work they do has come under the spotlight since the resignation of Conservative MP Owen Paterson. It was decided that Paterson had broken lobbying rules when working as a consultant.