BORIS Johnson has denied the British political system is "corrupt".
The Prime Minister was challenged over allegations of sleaze and cronyism during a COP26 press conference.
He also acknowledged that MPs who break the rules should be punished, after his Government attempted to change the system for investigating breaches when one of their own MPs faced a 30 day suspension for lobbying.
Mr Johnson told journalists: "I genuinely believe that the UK is not remotely a corrupt country, nor do I believe that our institutions are corrupt.
“We have a very, very tough system of parliamentary democracy and scrutiny, not least by the media.
“I think what you have got is cases where, sadly, MPs have broken the rules in the past, may be guilty of breaking the rules today. What I want to see is them facing appropriate sanctions.”
Mr Johnson's official spokesman said yesterday that the Prime Minister was not against MPs having second jobs, after emerged Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Cox earned more than £1m last year from outside legal work, alongside his £82,000 MP salary.
Asked about second jobs today, he said that MPs must put their constituency work first.
He said: "On second jobs, I would say that for hundreds of years MPs have gone to Parliament and also done work as doctors, lawyers or soldiers or firefighters or writers, or all sorts of other trades and callings.
“And on the whole, the UK population has understood that that has actually strengthened our democracy, because people basically feel that parliamentarians do need to have some experience of the world.
“But, if that system is going to continue today, then it is crucial that MPs follow the rules.
“And the rules say two crucial things: you must put your job as an MP first and you must devote yourself primarily and above all to your constituents and the people who send you to Westminster, to Parliament.
“And they also say that you should not use your position as an MP to lobby or otherwise intervene on behalf of any outside commercial interest. And it is not only that you have to register those interests – you can’t lobby or make representation while an MP on behalf of those interests.
“Those are the rules and they must be enforced and those who don’t obey them should of course face sanctions.”
Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner said Mr Johnson was "taking the mickey".
She said: "Boris Johnson's refusal to apologise proves that he doesn't care about tackling the corruption that has engulfed Downing Street, his government and the Conservative Party.
"Instead of taking responsibility the Prime Minister is taking the mickey out of the British people and won't clean up his mess.
"He thinks it's one rule for him and another rule for everyone else."
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