At his last monthly press conference before the UK General Election, Leader of the Opposition, David Cameron renewed his call for a Public Inquiry into the 'cash-for-lobbying' row that has erupted following a sting by TV Documentary programme 'Dispatches' where a number of MPs were secretly filmed by the Channel 4 programme and showed an apparent willingness to help a lobbying firm in return for cash. The Labour Party has since withdrawn the whip from three former cabinet ministers: Stephen Byers, Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon, "for bringing it into disrepute". The Conservative Party Leader, David Cameron said, "anyone who watched any of the Dispatches programme last night could not help but be disgusted by what they saw."

"Former Ministers talking about being ‘cabs for hire’, talking about turning contacts and knowledge into hard cash, saying that they were too ill to meet constituents but had plenty of free time to make money. And yes – a Conservative backbencher (Sir John Butterfill) who attempted to up his value by suggesting he would get a peerage. I can tell you that is not going to happen. No wonder there is a deepening suspicion that politicians are out to serve themselves and not the country."

"A couple of months ago I said that this was the next big scandal waiting to happen. I warned that the culture of excessive lobbying and quiet words in the Minister’s ear was threatening to do even more damage to the battered reputation of Parliament. I am not claiming to be some great forecaster. The fact is that the last government ended with scandals like this – and the current Government is ending with scandals that are frankly, if anything, worse. And I am sure that if we win the general Election, corporate interests will be all over any new government like a rash" he added.

David Cameron went on to propose changes that his his party would make, including: "

• We’re going to make absolutely sure that ex-Ministers are not allowed to use the contacts and knowledge gained in government for their own private gain.
• We’ll double the time when it’s forbidden for ex-Ministers to lobby government from twelve months to two years.
• We’ll extend to ten years the period during which ex-Ministers must seek advice from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments.
• We’ll put that Committee on a statutory basis, so ignoring its advice will be an offence.
• The first task of an incoming government will be to instruct the Prime Minister’s advisor on the Ministerial Code to undertake a full review of this episode so that the government can learn the lessons of what has gone wrong, and change the rules to stop it happening again.
• And we’ve also got to put a stop to the practice of one part of government lobbying another part of government.
• That’s why we’ll serve notice and cancel government agencies contracts with lobbying firms.
• We’ll also look favourably at all other suggestions, including all those on how we can better regulate lobbying."

"But let’s be frank: we can’t be sure that any of these would have stopped the situation we saw in the Dispatches programme last night. That is why we need a proper inquiry. The case for one is incredibly strong" he ended.