Major must declare all his earnings, MPs rule

John Major should declare his earnings from regular speaking engagements, the Commons' disciplinary committee ruled yesterday.

But the Standards and Privileges Committee rejected a complaint against the former Prime Minister and said he had been "punctilious" in registering his interests.

Mr Major's lectures and after-dinner speeches, arranged through the Washington Speakers' Bureau, had fallen foul of new guidance to MPs introduced in March this year, the Standards and Privileges Committee found.

A complaint was made against Mr Major in February by Desmond Turner, the Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Elizabeth Filkin, said in a report to the committee she would have been "minded" to uphold a complaint against Mr Major but for the fact that he had taken advice from the registrar and followed it carefully.

The committee agreed with Ms Filkin in not upholding the complaint. Its report said: "Mr Major has at all times been punctilious in providing information ... about speaking engagements and other interests."