Former Tory minister Owen Paterson calls for Starmer’s day in court over Randox scandal 2021

The standards committee’s final report said: “Mr Paterson’s lobbying breaches were so serious and so numerous that they risked damaging public confidence in the House and its members.”

Mr Paterson’s plea to Sir Keir came ahead of the release of a new documentary this week called Justice? The Owen Paterson story.

In the half-hour film, Paterson claimed the standards committee had been “out to get me” and suggested the panel had singled him out because he was a “big dog Brexiteer”.

“I just want to have my day in court, that’s all I’m asking,” he said.

“If I go down then, I will at least be satisfied that justice has been seen to be done. But I don’t want another human being to go through what I and my family have gone through.”

Paterson has previously argued that the investigation into his conduct “certainly played a significant role” in the 2020 suicide of his wife, Rose.

He also rejected allegations he had helped Randox secure a £133m Covid contract.

Philip Barden, Mr Paterson’s lawyer, said Mr Paterson was right to alert the Food Safety Agency to the contamination of milk and ham by banned substances which can cause cancer.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who was cleared by the committee more than two decades ago, said in the documentary: “Of course I can be criticized for saying that, but I don’t think it’s as open or as rigorous as it was then.”