THE House of Commons has voted to suspend Justin Tomlinson for two days following a report released last month into the leaking of a confidential report to Wonga, the payday loan firm.

The incident happened in 2013 when the North Swindon MP was a member of the Public Accounts Committee.

They were working on regulations to protect consumers and he shared a draft report with an employee of Wonga - seemingly in an effort to find ways to strengthen the measures being proposed.

This evening, MPs voted to approve the recommendations of the Committee of Privileges which found that the behaviour constituted a “substantial interference” with the work of the committee and that in sharing the draft report with the Wonga employee, Mr Tomlinson had “committed a contempt.”

Moving the motion to approve the suspension, the Leader of the House, David Lidington MP, said: “My honourable friend, the member for Swindon North, was found to have shared a draft report by the Committee of Public Accounts with an outside party, in breach of the confidentiality rules.

“His cooperation throughout the relevant inquiries was noted by the committee, which also made reference to the fact that my honourable friend was not motivated in his actions by financial gain.”

In addition to the recommendation of a two day suspension, the committee also asked that Mr Tomlinson make a personal statement to his fellow MPs.

He did so on the day the report was published which was a gesture seemingly appreciated by his colleagues on both sides of the House.

In his statement, Mr Tomlinson said that he wanted to make a "full and unreserved apology."

He added: “These actions came as a result of my own naivety, driven by a desire to strengthen regulations on payday lenders and protect vulnerable consumers.

“I completely accept the findings of the report. I accept that my actions in sharing the report constitute an interference in the work of the Committee of Public Accounts, and for this I am truly sorry.

“This was never my intention.”

Speaking in the Commons chamber this evening, Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop, a member of the Privileges Committee who authored the report recommending the suspension, suggested that while Mr Tomlinson’s actions had clearly been wrong, there was significant mitigation to be taken into account.

He told MPs that during the three separate inquiries into his conduct, Mr Tomlinson had made no effort to deny his role in events and instead continued to apologise unreservedly for his actions.

Outlining the mitigation, he said: “This was part of a long running campaign he had led against payday lenders – he described his actions as the result of his own naivety and stupidity - we accept that this was the case.”

He also made reference to media allegations, published at the time, suggesting that Mr Tomlinson had benefited financially from sharing the draft report with Wonga.

On that issue, Mr Blenkinsop said: “I wish to stress from the start that these accusations were unsubstantiated and were dismissed by the Commissioner as groundless – the Committee of Privileges agrees completely with that finding.”

The two day suspension will start tomorrow morning.

Mr Tomlinson says he will be spending that time back in his constituency, working on local issues.

“I won’t be taking any time off," he said.

“I’ll be in Swindon and will be dealing with local residents’ casework and responding to their emails and concerns as always.”

A full copy of the report is available online at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201617/cmselect/cmprivi/672/672.pdf