NORTH Shropshire MP Owen Paterson has insisted he 'acted within the rules' in an angry response to Parliamentary sanctions for breaking lobbying rules.

An investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, Kathryn Stone, found he repeatedly lobbied ministers and officials on behalf of two companies for which he was acting as a paid consultant – Randox, and Lynn's Country Foods.

But in a furious rebuttal on his blog, Mr Paterson said he had been treated unfairly.

In a 1,663-word piece, Mr Paterson writes: "I reject completely the findings of the Committee for Parliamentary Standards.

"The methods of the investigation do not create a just and fair outcome.

"Most importantly, not one of my 17 witnesses have been interviewed during the course of the investigation despite the passage of 24 months – not by the Commissioner, and not by the Committee.

"These highly reputable and reliable witnesses are the very people who say I am not guilty.

"What court, what workplace investigation, would ignore such evidence and call its procedures fair?"

Mr Paterson also said the investigation into his actions have also taken a severe toll on his family, and claimed the report had played a role in his wife Rose's suicide last year.

He added: "On a personal level, the cost to me and my three grown-up children from the manner of this investigation has been catastrophic.

"Last summer, in the midst of the investigation, my wife of 40 years, Rose, took her own life.

"We will never know definitively what drove her to suicide, but the manner in which this investigation was conducted undoubtedly played a major role.

"Rose would ask me despairingly every weekend about the progress of the inquiry, convinced that the investigation would go to any lengths to somehow find me in the wrong.

"The longer the investigation went on and the more the questions went further and further from the original accusations, the more her anxiety increased."

The MP also says the process should be changed, and denies any wrongdoing.

"I believe that no other MP should ever again be subject to this shockingly inadequate process," he added.

"As in normal judicial proceedings, MPs subject to investigations must have a chance to see their evidence fully considered.

"In my case, I am very clear that I acted properly and within the rules, putting my lifetime experience, my many years as an MP and my service as a Cabinet Minister towards ensuring the public good."