Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is an independent officer of the House of Commons responsible for investigating complaints that MPs have breached the Commons Code of Conduct. The office was established in 1995 following the 'cash-for-questions' scandal of the early 1990s, in which Conservative MPs were found to have accepted payments from lobbyists in exchange for parliamentary questions. The Commissioner investigates complaints referred by the public or by the House itself, produces a report, and submits findings to the Committee on Standards, a joint committee of MPs and lay members, which determines any sanction. MPs can then be suspended, required to apologise, or in extreme cases have the outcome referred to the full House. The Commissioner cannot compel witnesses or impose sanctions directly.

The office's powers were expanded after 2008 following the MPs' expenses scandal, which demonstrated that the existing regime was inadequate for financial-Conduct breaches. A revised Code of Conduct in 2012 added tighter rules on financial interests, outside earnings, and The Register of interests. The current Commissioner is Daniel Greenberg, appointed in 2021; he is a former Counsel for Domestic Legislation in the Office of the Speaker and brings a background in parliamentary drafting rather than regulatory enforcement. In May 2026, Greenberg opened a formal investigation of Nigel Farage over a reportedly undeclared £5 million personal gift from Christopher Harborne, running in parallel with separate Electoral Commission and FCA inquiries into the same donor relationship.

The Farage case is the first Standards investigation of a party leader in active opposition for over a decade. It has since paused: parliamentary standards inquiries lapse once their subject is no longer a sitting MP, and Farage vacated his Clacton seat on 8 July 2026. The inquiry can only resume if Farage returns to the Commons via the Clacton by-election set for 13 August 2026.