The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is an officer of the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

. The work of the officer is overseen by the

Commons Select Committee on Standards The Commons Select Committee on Standards is appointed by the House of Commons to oversee the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. History The committee was created on 13 December 2012 as one half of the replacements for the Comm ...

. The current commissioner is Daniel Greenberg.

Duties

The commissioner is in charge of regulating MPs' conduct and propriety. One of the commissioner's main tasks is overseeing the ''Register of Members' Financial Interests'', which is intended to ensure disclosure of financial interests that may be of relevance to MPs' work. The Commissioner is the decision-maker in cases from the

Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme The Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme (ICGS) is a system set up by the British Houses of Parliament which investigates complaints about inappropriate behaviour, such as bullying, harassment or sexual misconduct, and provides advice to co ...

where the respondent is a Member of Parliament. If the Commissioner deems a sanction warranted, they refer cases to the

Independent Expert Panel The Independent Expert Panel (IEP) is a body of the British Houses of Parliament. The Panel was established in 2020 in response to a report by Dame Laura Cox, and replaced the Committee on Standards. As recommended in the Cox report, it is entir ...

so the appropriate sanction can be determined. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is appointed by a resolution of the House of Commons for a fixed term of five years and is an independent officer of the House, working a four-day week. The remit of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards does not extend to the House of Lords: the post of Lords Commissioner for Standards was created in 2010.

History

The post was established in 1995 with Sir Gordon Downey as the first commissioner, serving the newly formed Committee for Standards and Privileges. He investigated the

cash-for-questions affair The cash-for-questions affair was a political scandal of the 1990s in the United Kingdom. It began in October 1994 when ''The Guardian'' newspaper alleged that London's most successful parliamentary lobbyist, Ian Greer of Ian Greer Associates, ...

. The second commissioner was Elizabeth Filkin (1999–2002), whose first case involved

Peter Mandelson Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, (born 21 October 1953) is a British politician, lobbyist and diplomat who has served as British Ambassador to the United States since February 2025. A member of the Labour Party, Mandelson serve ...

and a large loan which he had failed to declare in the Register of Members' Interests. Her departure was controversial. The next commissioner was Sir Philip Mawer. MPs he investigated include

George Galloway George Galloway (born 16 August 1954) is a British politician, broadcaster, and writer. He has been leader of the Workers Party of Britain since he founded it in 2019, and is a former leader of the Respect Party. Until 2003, he was a member ...

and

Derek Conway Derek Leslie Conway TD (born 15 February 1953) is an English politician and television presenter. A member of the Conservative Party, Conway served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency of Shrewsbury and Atcham from 1983 to 199 ...

. He avoided investigating high-level MPs such as cabinet ministers. Unlike his predecessor he was appointed to a second term, but he did not complete it; he took up a new post at the beginning of 2008 as an independent adviser on ministerial standards to the then prime minister

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

. John Lyon was commissioner from 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2012. In an article about Lyon's questioning by the parliamentary enquiry into MPs' expenses, ''

Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised ...

'' described him as "feeble" and an "establishment stooge". Kathryn Hudson served as commissioner from 1 January 2013 until 31 December 2017.

Kathryn Stone Kathryn Elizabeth Stone (born 8 August 1963) is the former independent Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards of the British House of Commons from January 2018 until December 2022. Early life Kathryn Stone was born in Derby and grew up in Be ...

served as commissioner from 1 January 2018 until 31 December 2022. The current commissioner, Daniel Greenberg, began his tenure on 1 January 2023.

List of commissioners

References

External links

The records of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201011052129/https://archives.parliament.uk/collections/getrecord/GB61_HC_CS , date=2020-10-11 are held by the Parliamentary Archives
Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards
official website
Register of Members' Interests
* Josh Chafetz
"Cleaning House: Congressional Commissioners for Standards,"
Yale Law Journal, vol. 117, no. 1, pp. 165–73 House of Commons of the United Kingdom Ombudsmen in the United Kingdom 1995 establishments in the United Kingdom Political funding in the United Kingdom