The Daily Telegraph's reports relating to Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind
On Thursday Ms Hudson cleared Sir Malcolm of breaking rules on paid lobbying. He had reportedly offered to use his position on behalf of a fictitious Chinese company in an encounter filmed by undercover reporters working for the Telegraph and Channel 4's Dispatches.
The reporters also met Jack Straw, who they captured on camera saying: "Normally if I'm doing a speech or something, it's £5,000 a day."
Both men denied wrongdoing and both were cleared by Ms Hudson, aside from a "minor misuse of Parliamentary resources" by Straw. In her report she said that "use of carefully selected excerpts from the recordings does not necessarily give the viewer a detailed understanding of the circumstances and the full evidence behind the interviews."
Ms Hudson did not mention her link to the former Foreign Secretary in her report.
Comment: Perhaps because such a connection would be seen as a blatant 'conflict of interests'?
Sir Malcolm was one of a five-person selection panel who interviewed Ms Hudson in 2012. She was one of five candidates interviewed and one of two put forward to the House of Commons Commission, which finalised her appointment. Ms Hudson declined to comment to the Telegraph on the connection, while Sir Malcolm told the paper he had forgotten the name of the person he had recommended.
Comment: 'Cash for access' following the 'cash for questions' scandal in the 1990's. It's enough to make you question the integrity of these British Establishment figures.
Meanwhile the number of applications for legal assistance received by the Bar Pro Bono Unit has almost doubled over the past three years since widespread cuts to civil legal aid were introduced. The Bar Council has also warned that government plans to increase court fees for a second time would unbalance civil justice, giving rich people and big businesses an unfair advantage.