The former Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Sir Gordon Downey has welcomed the verdict in the Neil Hamilton libel trial.

Sir Gordon's parliamentary committee was the first body to investigate allegations that Mr Hamilton had accepted cash for asking parliamentary questions.

He said: "This has been the right result and I think he brought these problems on himself."

Sir Gordon's committee had already found during its investigations that the evidence "points compellingly to the conclusion that Mr Hamilton accepted cash payments from Mr al-Fayed in return for lobbying services".

'Pleased' with ruling

Speaking to the BBC the onetime parliamentary commissioner said: "I am pleased that the court case has reached the same conclusion as I did.

"To some extent I think that has satisfied what Mr Hamilton certainly saw as a need, as I think he was not wholly confident in the procedures adopted for a parliamentary committee agreed by Parliament."

When asked if a libel trial could have been avoided if Mr Hamilton had been able to appeal against his committee's ruling, Sir Gordon answered it would have made little difference.

'Slipshod' standards

The committee, he said, had "very few doubts" about the allegations made against the former minister, who now faces financial ruin due a £2m bill for legal fees.

Sir Gordon added: "I was the first parliamentary commissioner for standards and at the time some members of Parliament had begun to slip into rather slipshod ways.

"They were not sufficiently conscious of the need to safeguard their integrity" he said.

Turning to the present state of Parliament he said the, "standards of the House are higher as a result" of the tougher system now in place.