Conway stripped of MP panel seat

Mr Conway has been suspended from the Commons for 10 days

Derek Conway has lost his £13,000 a year place on a panel of senior MPs following his suspension from the Commons over payments to his son.

The "chairmen's panel" of senior members is appointed to oversee detailed debates on legislation.

A spokesman for Speaker Michael Martin said the decision to remove Mr Conway came after talks with the parties through "the usual channels".

The Old Bexley and Sidcup MP has already had the Tory whip withdrawn.

The decision to strip Mr Conway of his place on the chairman's panel means he will lose the £13,107 allowance its members receive on top of their £61,000-a-year MP's salary to reflect their extra workload chairing standing committees.

Repayment ordered

"He has been notified today by the Speaker that he is no longer a member of the chairmen's panel," the Speaker's spokesman said.

The Speaker's spokesman denied the decision to remove him from the chairmen's panel was the result of media pressure.

"This matter was under discussion in the usual channels a week ago," he said.

It comes after Mr Conway was ordered to repay £13,161 and after being censured for employing his son Freddie as a £11,000 researcher while he was a full time university student.

Mr Conway is currently serving a 10-day suspension from the Commons over the affair and could face a new inquiry into how he employed his other son Henry as a researcher.

The MP is now listed as an Independent Conservative after the Conservative leader David Cameron withdrew the Tory whip from him.

New rules?

His case has sparked a full-scale review of MPs' allowances and arrangements for employing their staff.

MPs are, meanwhile, expected to vote in the next three weeks on whether they should declare relatives who work for them.

The reforms proposed by the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee are intended to be in place by 1 April.

An extra category will be added to the Parliamentary register of interests so MPs can disclose the salary band of any family members whom they employ.

They will also be able to describe the work these relatives do.

There is also to be a "root and branch" review by the Commons estimates committee into MPs' allowances and pay, which is expected to report in the autumn.

Under Commons rules, the Speaker appoints 10 or more MPs to the chairmen's panel - there are currently nearer 30.

Their main task is to chair standing committees but they may also act as temporary chairmen of the Commons when it is sitting as a committee of the whole House.

Mr Conway was joint chairman of the Commons committee scrutinising the Health and Social Care Bill.