By Anushka Asthana, Political Correspondent
Pressure is mounting on Sir Malcolm Rifkind to step down as chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) after he was secretly filmed negotiating an advisory role with a fictitious Chinese company.
The Conservative MP was lured into a sting in which he told undercover reporters he could offer "useful access" to British ambassadors across the world.
The Prime Minister has not offered Sir Malcolm his confidence, and now a former chair of the group has said the allegations make his position as chairman "very difficult".
Sir Malcolm strongly denies wrongdoing but Kim Howells, a former chairman of the ISC, has cast doubt on whether the Conservative MP can carry on in his role.
He told Newsnight that the reputation of the committee – which has oversight of intelligence and security agencies - could not afford to be "dragged down" by a sting because it was "too important".
He also questioned how Sir Malcolm could have the time for an advisory role given how busy he would be as chairman of the ISC.
The controversy has also left the MP fighting to save his House of Commons career – after the Conservatives removed the whip from him pending an internal investigation.
He will have to face his local association in Kensington, London, on Thursday, where there could be anger about his comments regarding how much free time he had. Sir Malcolm told the undercover reporters he spent "a lot of time reading, a lot of time walking".
Both Sir Malcolm and Labour MP Jack Straw were caught out after reporters posed as representatives of a fictitious Chinese company.Jack Straw boasted about working "under the radar" in a £60,000 consultancy role for a commodities company for whom he claimed to have altered EU regulation and Ukrainian law.
Sir Malcolm said he could offer "useful access" to British ambassadors across the world – and write to ministers for information without naming the client.
He also said: "I am self-employed – so no one pays me a salary. I have to earn my income." He told Sky News the comments were "silly", acknowledging that he has a £67,000 income as an MP.
Sir Malcolm said he was going to fight the allegations, and insisted the conversation with the fake company was completely unrelated to his role in the committee.
He said he had only talked about helping the company to source information in the public domain.
But there is disquiet among some committee members, who say the controversy has been harmful, but who also argue that without Sir Malcolm the group's latest investigation could be delayed.
Meanwhile, Mr Straw has also denied all wrongdoing but the affair has cast a shadow over the end of his House of Commons career.
The Labour leader Ed Miliband described the incident as "disturbing".
Some had assumed Mr Straw would move into the House of Lords but Labour sources say that could not happen while an investigation is ongoing. The MP agreed to be suspended from the Labour party.
Both men have referred themselves to the parliamentary standards commissioner – but an investigation could take months.
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