Conservative Tim Yeo has stood aside as chairman of the Energy and Climate Change Committee following allegations - which he denies - that he broke parliamentary rules. What are his fellow MPs saying?
Tim Yeo strenuously denies any wrongdoing
There was scant sympathy for Tim Yeo among some of his Conservative colleagues.
It was not that they believed he had broken Parliament's rules.
Rather, they were unimpressed by his properly declared business interests.
The official register shows the man who was Energy and Climate Change Committee chair had interests in firms involved in biofuels, fuel cell technology and environmentally friendly cabs.
That is entirely within the rules of the House of Commons.
But one Tory MP said: "We want MPs with real business backgrounds who have had successful careers, not yesterday's politicians and Lords chasing lucrative earners on the side."
Rule change?
Another said the current focus on Mr Yeo's business activity was an "accident waiting to happen".
"Why weren't there conversations in the whips' office a few years ago?" he asked.
The party authorities should have acted, he suggested, not because Mr Yeo was guilty of wrongdoing but because he was likely to be accused of a conflict of interests.
As a select committee chair Mr Yeo receives a supplement to his MP's salary, bringing his parliamentary earnings to £81,124.
The current register, external alone shows his outside interests bringing in tens of thousands of pounds.
Select committees scrutinise government. Their profile and influence has grown in recent years.
Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston has argued the rules should change so select committee chairs are free of potential conflicts of interest.
The former MP turned writer on the ConservativeHome website Paul Goodman says chairmen should be barred from having any outside interest that could reasonably be seen to conflict with their role., external
That argument goes only so far.
Lib Dem stand-in
Many MPs are fiercely resistant to the idea that they should all be barred from holding any outside interests.
Before the recent stories broke one Conservative MP told me that, were David Cameron to apply a blanket ban, it would end the prime minister's career.
Mr Yeo has denied the Sunday Times' claim that he coached a businessman who gave evidence at the committee, saying he acted within the MPs' code of conduct and referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
After his offer to stand aside was accepted, Mr Yeo left the select committee meeting - pursued by reporters.
The Liberal Democrat Sir Robert Smith chaired in his absence.
When the hearing resumed to consider oil refining, Sir Robert's first act was to declare a shareholding in Shell.
The register of MPs' interests shows he has received hospitality from BP, and also has a shareholding in the mining firm Rio Tinto.
In a statement Sir Robert said: "I have always made sure that any interests that I do have are properly registered with the Register of Members' Financial Interests.
"During any inquiry or evidence session that the select committee holds which relate to areas in which I have an interest, or which it might be thought to relate to areas in which I have an interest, I have always clearly declared my interest, and done so publicly."
All this has been properly declared, both orally and in writing in the register, and no one has suggested that he has breached any rules.
But some members are questioning whether those rules should be tightened.
