Tory MP Miriam Cates under investigation by Commons standards watchdog

The MP, a high-profile figure on the party’s right, faces claims she caused ‘significant damage to the reputation of the House’

Tory MP Miriam Cates has been placed under investigation by Parliament’s standards watchdog.

The backbench MP, a high-profile figure on the party’s right, is facing claims that she has caused “significant damage to the reputation of the House as a whole, or of its members generally”.

It is not known what the investigation relates to.

The details of investigations by the Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg are kept confidential until the inquiry is concluded and those under investigation are barred from discussing the allegations.

Miriam Cates, a leading figure of the New Conservatives group, has been placed under investigation by Parliament’s standards commissioner. (Danny Lawson/PA) (PA Archive)

Ms Cates was elected as MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge in 2019 and is a founder of co-chair of the New Conservatives group, alongside fellow backbencher Danny Kruger.

The New Conservatives are piling pressure on the PM to cut migration and adopt other socially conservative policies. Their manifesto of ideas included lashing taxes and banning “gender ideology” from being taught in schools.

Ms Cates has been outspoken in her concern about declining fertility rates in Britain, calling for policies to promote marriage and having children. She has also caused controversy in the past with comments on topics ranging from childcare to LGBTQ+ issues.

The Penistone and Stocksbridge MP, elected in 2019, previously claimed that “extreme and inappropriate” sex education material was being shared with children in schools in England.

She has often railed against the UK’s declining birth rate, describing it as the “one overarching threat to British conservatism and indeed the whole of Western society”.

The UK’s birth rate has fallen over the past decade from 1.9 children per woman in 2012 to 1.6 in 2021, although that was a slight rise compared with 2020.

She blames “liberal individualism” and “cultural Marxism” for the decline and has called for families to be encouraged to have more children.

In 2021, Ms Cates and Mr Kruger also established the New Social Covenant Unit (NSCU) to promote “families, communities and the nation”.

Earlier in 2023, the NSCU published a review commissioned by Ms Cates criticising sex education and claiming children were being shown inappropriate material, prompting Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to order a review of guidance on the subject.

Teaching unions in turn denied Ms Cates’ claims, saying there was “no evidence to suggest there is a widespread problem” and calling the review “politically motivated”.

A former science teacher, Ms Cates has become a fixture at right-wing conferences, addressing the National Conservatism conference in May and the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship conference in October.

Ms Cates is one of eight MPs currently being investigated by the Standards Commissioner, including Deputy Speaker Dame Eleanor Laing, veteran conservative Sir Bernard Jenkin and Reclaim MP Andrew Bridgen.