3 former ministers suspended as Britain’s parliament plunged into new ethics scandal

3 former UK ministers suspended amid new scandal

LONDON — Three former British Cabinet ministers have been suspended from Britain’s ruling Labour Party over allegations that they were trading access to government officials for cash, media reports said Monday.

Former defense secretary Geoff Hoon, former transport minister Stephen Byers, and ex-health secretary Patricia Hewitt have all been suspended from Britain’s Parliamentary Labour Party, according to Sky News television, the BBC and other media.

Byers was filmed by a television documentary crew apparently offering to use his contacts and access on behalf of private clients for 5,000 pounds ($7,500) per day.

In the secretly-filmed footage — broadcast on Channel 4’s “Dispatches” program — he describes himself as a “cab for hire,” and boasts that he had been able to alter new laws on behalf of major companies. Byers later insisted he had been exaggerating.

Hoon and Hewitt were also filmed meeting with the TV crew.