Related video: Geoffrey Cox accused of working second job from Commons office
Tory MPs have been accused of raking in more than £1m in consultancy fees as pressure builds on Boris Johnson over Westminster “sleaze”, with the former attorney general Sir Geoffrey Cox at the centre of the row over his work for the British Virgin Islands.
Labour published an analysis overnight showing Conservative MPs received more than £1.7m in consultancy fees since the start of the year, with one in seven taking money from outside interests. Anneliese Dodds, the Labour Party chairwoman, said it showed there was “something rotten” at the heart of the Tory Party.
The prime minister has insisted that Britain is not “remotely a corrupt country”. His remarks on Wednesday followed the decision last week to order his MPs to prevent Owen Paterson’s suspension for breaking lobbying rules by creating a Tory-dominated committee – a move that provoked outrage at Westminster.
Jeremy Hunt urges government to pay Iran £400m debt
Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has said the UK should pay Iran the £400m debt it owes despite describing the country as “an absolutely despicable regime that sponsors terrorism across the Middle East”.
According to Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s family, she was told by Iranian authorities that she was being detained because of the UK’s failure to pay the money.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme on day 19 of husband Richard Ratcliffe’s hunger strike, Mr Hunt said: “We have contracts with countries all over the world, some of them nicer, some of them nastier, and we are a country that pays our debts.
“If this was ransom money I would be saying we should not pay it, and I’ve said that to Richard, however painful that sounds, because you just encourage more hostage-taking.
“But this is not ransom money. This is a debt. An international court has said so. The defence secretary has said so.
“We should pay it because it is an irritant to relations and whether or not it should be linked to Nazanin’s case, the Iranians certainly do make that linkage.”
Tom Batchelor11 November 2021 09:23
Row over ‘drunk MPs’ claims during Gibraltar trip
Two SNP MPs have denied “drinking heavily” on an Armistice Day visit to Gibraltar, calling the claims a “bizarre Tory smear campaign”.
Defence secretary Ben Wallace said on Wednesday he would complain to both the SNP and Labour about alleged behaviour by MPs from the parties before and during a flight to the Overseas British Territory on Tuesday.
Mr Wallace said claims about the conduct of two SNP MPs – named as David Linden and Drew Hendry – and a Labour MP showed “a lack of respect for the enduring work of our armed forces” and risked “undermining respect for parliament”.
A report in The Telegraph suggested the MPs, part of a 15-strong all-parliamentary delegation on the trip, had been “drinking heavily” during the flight to Gibraltar.
Read the full report here:
Tom Batchelor11 November 2021 09:10
Government must ‘do better’ amid sleaze allegations, says Rishi Sunak
Ministers must “do better”, the chancellor has said, amid ongoing sleaze allegations.
Speaking to Sky News, Rishi Sunak said: “Reflecting over recent events, I think for us as a government, it’s fair to say that we need to do better than we did last week and we know that.”
Asked about the level of pay for MPs, and whether that justified their search for extra work, Mr Sunak said: “I think people will have different motivations for doing what they do. The pay is set by an independent body. That’s absolutely right.
“And with regard to second jobs, there’s an independent process that we have that is set by parliament that governs all of those things and it’s absolutely right that process is followed to the letter.”
Tom Batchelor11 November 2021 09:01
Supply chain problems slow UK growth, figures show
UK economic growth slowed sharply over the summer as supply chain problems hampered the UK’s post-Covid recovery, official figures show.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the economy expanded by 1.3 per cent between July and September, down from growth of 5.5 per cent in the previous three months.
The ONS said growth picked up in September to a better-than-expected 0.6 per cent but revisions showed the performance was worse than first thought in July and August, with signs the global supply chain issues were taking their toll.
Tom Batchelor11 November 2021 08:55
MPs should be judged on the amount of second work they do, says standards committee chair
Jonathan Evans, chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, said that if an MP is spending a “huge amount of time” on a second job, they will not be able to fulfil their duties to constituents.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about his committee’s 2018 recommendations on MPs’ external work, the peer said: “We said that the critical thing was that nothing that an MP does should get in the way of their ability to work in support of their constituents – so the amount of work they do, the sort of work, needs to be judged against that.
“If somebody is spending a huge amount of their time on a second job, then they can’t be maintaining support for their constituents.”
Asked whether it matters more about how much time an MP spends on their outside work rather than how much they are earning, Lord Evans replied: “I don’t think it is ultimately a matter of how much, I think it is a matter of is it clear that the MP who has been elected by their constituents, that their main focus, their main priority is on being the best MP that they can be?
“And that takes time and that takes concentration.”
Tom Batchelor11 November 2021 08:46
Geoffrey Cox ‘earned £6m from second job since entering parliament’
Sir Geoffrey Cox has raked in at least £6m from his second job since becoming an MP in 2005, according to a Guardian report.
It comes as the former attorney general has been referred to the Standards Commissioner Kathryn Stone by Labour after video emerged of him apparently taking part in legal proceedings in the British Virgin Islands remotely from his office in Westminster.
The QC, in a statement issued on his website, defended his decision to work with the British Virgin Islands, offering legal advice that could earn him more than £1m this year on top of his £81,900 MP salary, and said he would co-operate with any investigation into his conduct.
The MP of 16 years said he had been given permission by Chief Whip Mark Spencer to utilise proxy voting rules brought in during the Covid-19 lockdown to allow him to continue voting in the Commons while working out in the Caribbean earlier this year.
Tom Batchelor11 November 2021 08:40
Minister refuses to defend Geoffrey Cox
A government minister has refused to defend Sir Geoffrey Cox for voting by proxy from the British Virgin Islands and said the standards row had been “regrettable”.
Business minister Paul Scully, asked on Sky News about former attorney general Sir Geoffrey voting by proxy in the Commons while carrying out a second job in the Caribbean earlier this year, said: “I’m not going to defend Geoffrey or say anything – that’s up to Geoffrey, it is between him and his voters.”
Asked whether he could see that the “optics were not good” in relation to the second jobs debate, Mr Scully replied: “Absolutely, I can see how it looks.
“It is really regrettable that we’ve got to this situation.”
Pressed on what was regrettable about the situation, he added: “That we’ve got in a position that, first of all, last week we allowed the situation for one individual (Owen Paterson) to be conflated with the standards procedures, which do need looking at, they do need an appeals process, but in order to do that we need a cross-party consensus.
“Then, as I say, for a number of other issues to be conflated which we need to tackle, but we need to tackle in a level-headed way and certainly not to get into a party political bun fight.”
Tom Batchelor11 November 2021 08:24
‘Right that MPs are able to have second jobs,’ says minister
Business Minister Paul Scully has said MPs should be able to have second jobs but “paid advocacy and the like … needs to be absolutely stamped out”.
He told LBC Radio it was “right that MPs are able to have second jobs but it is what the second jobs are that is really key, because you get lots of examples where lawyers still practise and they can bring that experience back to the legislation we are bringing forward and they are scrutinising.
“You have people in public service that are still practising as nurses, dentists and doctors, you have people in business which allows them to bring a business acumen and experience to bear in economic situations.
“But wrongdoing – paid advocacy and the like – needs to be absolutely stamped out.”
Tom Batchelor11 November 2021 08:19
Tory MPs raking in large sums from outside work
Tory MPs are raking in hundreds of thousands of pounds in consultancy fees, Labour has said, after the opposition party published new analysis showing Conservatives received more than £1.7 million in consultancy fees since the start of the year.
One in seven Tory MPs are taking money from outside interests, the report said.
Anneliese Dodds, the Labour Party chairwoman, said that Labour’s analysis showed 50 Tory backbenchers and former ministers had been paid by management or consultancy firms.
There is no suggestion that any of the MPs concerned broke any parliamentary rules in doing so.
Former cabinet minister Sir John Redwood, the MP for Wokingham, was said to have earned the most in fees, at £194,810.
This was followed by Sutton Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell (£115,833), Wyre Forest MP Mark Garnier (£82,500), Wimbledon MP Stephen Hammond (£81,666) and North East Bedfordshire MP Richard Fuller (£79,899).
The analysis does not include income from other outside work but calculates that in total £1,712,357 has been paid to Conservative MPs in consultancy fees.
Tom Batchelor11 November 2021 08:12
Boris Johnson insists Britain ‘not remotely corrupt country’
Boris Johnson has insisted that Britain is not “remotely a corrupt country” amid continuing fallout over the conduct of some MPs, scrutiny over politicians’ second jobs and concerns over sleaze in politics.
The prime minister’s remarks on Wednesday followed the decision last week to order his MPs to prevent Owen Paterson’s suspension for breaking lobbying rules by creating a Tory-dominated committee – a move that provoked outrage at Westminster.
Despite accusations of “corruption” and the Conservatives dipping in the opinion polls, Mr Johnson twice declined to apologise for his role in the politically toxic row when tackled on the issue at the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow.
Tom Batchelor11 November 2021 08:00