The row over the business interests of former paymaster general, Geoffrey Robinson, has been re-ignited by Conservative MPs pressing for the publication of a report by the parliamentary standards commissioner, Elizabeth Filkin.

The report is expected to conclude that a £200,000 payment form Robert Maxwell may have been transferred to an overseas trust, bank account or individual linked to Robinson. The Commons standards and privileges committee is expected to find Robinson guilty of misleading parliament following private sessions on Wednesday evening.

Labour MPs on the committee believe that Filkin has exceeded her brief and should not be raising such a politically sensitive question so close to an expected general election.