When the Conservative MP Owen Paterson was found to have abused his position for personal financial gain he responded by saying that “[t]he process I have been subjected to does not comply with natural justice.”

It is an interesting allegation because the concept of natural justice is so broad that it can be used to fit any argument.

Traditionally natural justice had a more precise meaning and referred to the right to a fair hearing without bias. Nowadays it is more about a very general duty to act fairly and so the claim that something “does not comply with natural justice” is not far removed from the general playground taunt of ‘That’s not fair!’

Paterson’s wife sadly killed herself last year and he has suggested that the disciplinary process was “a major contributory factor”. Furthermore he notes that the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards and the committee failed to talk to him until months into the investigation and did not interview any of his 17 witnesses.

At this point though it is worth distinguishing between two very different things that are going on here:

1. Any issues that Paterson might have with the process.
2. The very clear conclusion that Paterson:
   • broke official lobbying rules;
   • was paid nearly 3x his MP’s salary for advocating for Randox and Lynn’s Country Foods;
   • approached the Food Standards Agency and Department for International Development ministers on behalf of those companies; and
   • attempted a smear campaign against the commissioner who was investigating him.

By conflating the two, the MP muddies the waters when his own wrongdoing is not in doubt. Paterson is likely to be suspended from Parliament for 30 days following a vote in the Commons and could end up facing a by-election in his constituency.

Using ‘natural justice’ as a cover for his own “egregious” breach of the rules demonstrates how this legal principle can be used to try and excuse even high-level corruption.

In the second part of this series I will be discussing how the media makes use of the concept of natural justice to put its own desired spin on stories. If you are interested then you can subscribe for as little as £5.