Markus Andrews

Scotland Yard has been asked to investigate “cash for honours” allegations linked to the Conservative Party’s appointments to the House of Lords.SNP Commons leader Pete Wishart has written to Metropolitan Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick to raise “potential criminal misconduct” regarding the procurement of honours and peerages.He wants the probe to focus on claims that nine of the party’s former treasures have been elevated to the Lords since the Tories returned to power in 2010.An investigation by Open Democracy and the Sunday Times also alleged that 15 of the last 16 Tory party treasurers have been offered a seat in the House of Lords having each donated more than £3m to the party.In his letter, Mr Wishart added: “In total, 22 of the Conservative Party’s biggest financial contributors have been made members of the House of Lords in the past 11 years. Together they have donated some £54m to the Tories.He added: “I believe that it is only right to investigate whether these donations were, in fact, rewarded with honours.”The Tories have denied any link between the donations and nominations. Earlier on Monday, international trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said it was good to have a “rich mix” in the Lords, and claimed there was no “wider problem” with corruption in politics.Fellow cabinet minister George Eustice also claimed donors were “philanthropists who give huge amounts to charity, who have been very successful in business and, therefore, on those grounds ought to be considered for the Lords”.Amid the widening series of sleaze scandals engulfing Boris Johnson’s government, Mr Wishart told the Commons: “The true shocker of the past couple of days is cash for honours 2.0.”He added: “It now seems that nearly all the past treasurers of the Conservative Party of later years are in that place, wearing their ermine. The only characteristic they seem to have … is the fact they’re able to give several million pounds to this government.”Mr Wishart went on: “I have now asked the Metropolitan Police to investigate the activities of the Conservative Party and the awarding of places in the House of Lords.”The Lib Dems made clear they also support a police investigation into “cash for honours” claims. Lord Richard Newby, the party’s leader in the Lords, said: “These allegations must be investigated fully so we can get to the bottom of this murky saga.”Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer called on Mr Johnson to make sure no MP found guilty of “egregious breaches” of the MPs’ code of conduct can ever be recommended for a peerage.“The government can’t reward bad behaviour and corruption with a job for life making the laws of the land,” said the Labour leader.Downing Street has made clear there is no place to Owen Paterson – the former Tory MP at the centre of the storm over lobbying and conduct rules – in the Lords at some future date.Asked during a visit to whether Mr Paterson could be in line for a peerage, Mr Johnson said: “There has been absolutely no discussion of that.”Sir Keir also called for a ban on “paid directorships and consultancy roles”, as well as measures to end the “revolving door” between ministerial positions jobs and private sector big business. More

A Conservative MP is facing bankruptcy action over unpaid taxes, leaving open the possibility of another by-election if he is forced to stand down.It has emerged that HMRC has filed a petition for bankruptcy against Tory MP Adam Afriyie in a dispute related to “past business interests”.Any MP who is declared bankrupt must step aside under parliamentary rules – sparking concern among some Conservatives that Mr Afriyie may have to step aside in his Windsor seat.The backbencher’s spokesperson said he is challenging the HMRC’s petition and hoped the matter could still be resolved without bankruptcy.Mr Afriyie, who has held his seat since 2005, vowed: “I will of course pay any tax that is due.”A spokesperson for the MP said: “The petition arises for complex reasons related to Adam’s past business interests. Negotiations have been ongoing for several years and the petition is subject to legal challenge as his advisers are working towards reaching an agreement.”Mr Afriyie set up the IT firm Connect Support Services in 1993. But the firm went into insolvency in 2017 – having reportedly substantial mounted up debts with HMRC.Connect Support Services is the lead creditor in Mr Afriyie’s bankruptcy case, according to The Guardian, which first reported on the HMRC’s petition.It comes as Boris Johnson’s party faces a series of by-elections across the south of England and Midlands in the months ahead.There will be a contest in North Shopshire following Owen Paterson’s stunning resignation last week in the wake of the debacle which saw the government U-turn on plans to save him from suspension.Another byelection will be held in Old Bexley and Sidcup following Conservative MP James Brokenshire’s death from cancer last month.There is also the prospect of a by-election in in Leicester East, after MP Claudia Webbe was convicted of harassment and given a suspended jail sentence.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for Webbe – who has been sitting as an independent – to stand down. “If she doesn’t we will support a recall petition,” he said on Sunday.The mainstream opposition parties have all said they will not contest the by-election in Southend West following the killing of Conservative MP David Amess last month out of respect for his memory. More

A Labour MP has revealed how a man was arrested at Westminster for threatening him and blamed “anger” over allegations of Tory sleaze for the incident.Andy McDonald has now been given police protection for events in his Middlesbrough constituency, after the man – who was already known to the police – travelled to London demanding to see him.He said the constituent had previously been in possession of a weapon, making the incident frightening for both him and his family.It comes after Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, received threats from members of the public after a Cabinet minister questioned her role in the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal investigation.Mr McDonald accused Boris Johnson of “putting people at risk” by trying to rip up Commons anti-sleaze rules to prevent Mr Paterson being punished last week.“The bottom line is that all of this immoral and corrupt behaviour here in Westminster does spill out into our communities and it builds resentment and anger,” he told The Independent.“And I know this very well. I’ve had this before, but it happened again with somebody demanding to see me in the most inappropriate way and the police having to be involved.“Now I am now having to be escorted in my home town by Cleveland police officers to protect me and my staff and my family. That’s how it manifests itself.”It is understood that the man, who was arrested at Parliament last Thursday, was subsequently released by the police.The government’s disregard for the rules “goes to the heart of our democracy and basic tenets of the rule of law and totally undermines everything”, Mr McDonald warned.He called for a ban on MPs having outside jobs, saying: “That’s just wrong, it’s immoral. If £82,000 a year this isn’t good enough, go and get another job.“And I would also put an end to the House of Lords and this conveyor belt of Tory treasurers buying their place in the Lords in return for £3m. It’s anathema to democracy.”The criticism follows the revelation that no fewer than 15 Conservative treasurers have been handed peerages, after giving the party at least £3m each.Speaking in Northumberland – on a visit which means he is missing the Commons debate on sleaze – the prime minister refused to apologise for the lobbying controversy.Mr Johnson ducked a question about effectively selling peerages to donors and said he would not act on second jobs, which was an “issue” the Commons Speaker should examine.Asked if, following John Major’s attack on him, he believes “the rules just don’t apply to you”, the prime minister replied: “No, of course not.”In the Commons, the SNP MP Pete Wishart said he had written to the Metropolitan police, asking the force to investigate whether the Conservative party has broken the 1925 law banning the sale of honours.The same law as the basis under which Tony Blair’s government was investigated, leading to the arrest of Lord Levy, Mr Blair’s chief fundraiser, but no one was ever charged.Meanwhile, ministers appeared to rule out allowing MPs a new vote on Tuesday to endorse the commissioner’s report condemning Mr Paterson.Stephen Barclay, the Cabinet Office minister, said the former minister had resigned after suffering a personal tragedy and that the government wanted to move forward on a cross-party basis. More

Boris Johnson has been criticised for failing to wear a mask while meeting NHS staff and walking around the corridors of a hospital in Northumbria.The prime minister received fierce condemnation after photos emerged of him talking with staff at Hexham General Hospital without a protective face covering.Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “So not only is Boris Johnson too cowardly to turn up to parliament to defend the sleazy corrupt government shenanigans of recent days. He’s now irresponsibly parading round a hospital without a mask.”The Lib Dems also accused Mr Johnson of using his hospital trip to avoid scrutiny over sleaze. “Not only did Boris Johnson travel 280 miles to avoid a debate … he couldn’t be bothered to wear a mask while walking around a hospital once he got there,” said a spokesperson.However, No 10 insisted that Mr Johnson had followed the rules during his visit. The hospital also sought to defend him, saying he had worn a mask in “clinical areas”.Official guidance for the hospital, which is part of the Northumbria NHS Trust, states: “Anyone attending our hospitals and community settings must continue to wear a face-covering at all times to protect patients, visitors and staff.”Following the online backlash over the photos, a spokesperson for the trust stated: “The prime minister Boris Johnson followed strict measures, including wearing a mask, in each clinical area he visited.”The trust also shared photos of the PM wearing a mask in clinical areas. “Please be assured that infection prevention and control remains an utmost priority for our trust,” said the statement.Asked why Mr Johnson had not worn a mask in some parts of the hospital, his official spokesman said: “I am confident he will have been abiding by the rules in place.”It follows outrage at the crucial Cop26 summit in Glasgow after Mr Johnson was pictured sitting next to Sir David Attenborough without wearing a mask.While others around him, including Sir David, were pictured wearing face coverings, the PM wore none.Asked by CNN why he had chosen not to wear a mask, he responded: “I’ve been, you know, wearing a mask when in confined spaces with people that I don’t normally meet.”Mr Johnson added: “It’s up to people to make a judgement about whether they’re … whether they’re, you know, at a reasonable distance from someone and whether they’re with someone they don’t normally meet.” More

A controversial local council funding shake-up has been shelved over fears it would penalise Boris Johnson’s new ‘Red Wall’ voters in the North of England.Town halls were set to retain 75 per cent of business rates income – instead of funds being redistributed from a central pot – a switch long opposed by council leaders in poorer areas.They fear it would hit councils where fewer firms pay rates and with less income from council tax, which are effectively propped up by Whitehall currently.David Cameron’s government announced 100 per cent business rate retention by 2020, a proportion cut to 75 per cent – and then delayed because of the twin impacts of Brexit and the Covid pandemic.Giving evidence to MPs, Michael Gove, the new levelling up secretary, suggested the shake-up had been dropped altogether because it would undermine his flagship policy.The apparent U-turn came as he hinted at further delays to attempts to define what levelling up means, with a long-promised white paper now not certain to appear this year.Mr Gove also said he wants to review plans to force leaseholders to take out loans to pay for dangerous cladding to be replaced, following the Grenfell tragedy.A £3.5bn package was condemned as “a betrayal” earlier this year, because residents in shorter buildings face £50-a-month charges to repay loans for the cost of their repairs.With costs easily reaching £40,000 in many cases, those residents could be paying off their debts for decades, it is feared.Mr Gove stopped short of promising a rethink, but said he had requested a “pause” to establish whether loans are “a necessary way” of resolving fire safety issues.“I’m still unhappy with the principle of leaseholders having to pay at all, no matter how effective a scheme might be in capping their costs,” he said, adding: “My question is why do they have to pay at all?”But he admitted he might return to the committee having “tried and tried and tried”, only to conclude that “it is too difficult” to free leaseholders from paying the costs.On business rate retention, Mr Gove told the Commons local government committee: “It’s important that we proceed with caution.“Those local authorities that have the most resilient council tax base, and also the highest proportion of business rates, are relatively speaking in a stronger position, are relatively speaking more in the south-east.“That goes against the broader principle of levelling up, to move precipitously to a system where 75 per cent of business rates are retained – because that goes against the process of redistributing towards the areas that need it most.”Mr Gove insisted the policy rethink was “not as crude as seeking to help local authorities in the North”.But he added: “If it had to be boiled down a single sentence, that is very much something that is in my mind.”Tory MP Neil O’Brien was asked to put meat on what Mr Johnson himself accepted was a “skeleton” of his levelling up policy and is now a minister in Mr Gove’s department.His white paper was expected to appear before last month’s three-year spending review, to allow its ideas to be funded by the chancellor Rishi Sunak.Asked when it will not appear, Mr Gove told the committee: “We hope to publish a white paper before Christmas.” More

A former Conservative health minister Lord Bethell has rowed with Labour over “corruption” allegations after he admitted he may have deleted phone messages about Covid contracts.The Tory peer said he was the victim of an unfair “personal” attack from Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner after she claimed he had a key role in “dishing out” contracts during the pandemic.The government previously claimed Lord Bethell had “lost” or “replaced” his mobile phone before it could be searched for messages relevant to £85m-worth of testing contracts given to Abingdon Health.In a new statement given to the judicial review – launched following a legal challenge by campaigners at the Good Law Project – Lord Bethell acknowledged that messages related to the contracts were deleted.“I have cleared WhatsApp messages from my personal mobile phone from time to time in order to free up storage space,” the former minister said. “To the extent that these messages related to the Abingdon Health contract, they would have been deleted.”It comes after it emerged that Owen Paterson – the former Tory MP at the centre of the sleaze scandal engulfing the government – had contact with Lord Bethell at the start of the Covid crisis.Mr Paterson was reportedly party to a call with Lord Bethell and the health firm Randox last April, shortly after the firm was given a government contract to provide Covid tests.Highlighting the fact that Randox paid Mr Paterson £100,000 a year to act as a consultant, Labour’s deputy leader tweeted: “Owen Paterson sat in on a call between Randox and Lord Bethell, who dished out Covid contracts.”Ms Rayner added: “Randox was awarded over £500m in Covid contracts without a tender or an open process. Let’s call this what it is – corruption.”But the former Tory health minister fired back as the Labour deputy, saying: “This sort of consistent personal attack unfairly implies wrongdoing. It sneers at our national effort, when in fact so many were seeking to save lives.”Denying any wrongdoing in a series of tweets, he added: “I thought that we all have a responsibility for our language and rhetoric, and should avoid toxifying the national debate?”Ms Rayner responded: “Calling corruption corruption is not ‘toxifying the national debate’, it is a statement of fact. Publish your private WhatsApps and emails detailing how Randox were awarded over £500m without tender, despite not having enough equipment and failing to deliver a previous contract.”Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has also demanded a “full, transparent investigation” into how Randox came to win Covid testing contracts. He said it was “vital the public has confidence that Owen Paterson’s paid advocacy did not influence these decisions”.Meanwhile, the information commissioner continues to investigating Lord Bethell’s use of “WhatsApp and any other private channels” to conduct government business. More

MPs are earning more than £1.4m a year to act as consultants for private firms – with some receiving more from their second job than their primary work serving constituents.As concern grows over the potential conflicts of interests, the register of members’ financial interests shows 32 MPs are paid for consultancy work.Analysis by The Independent shows this group – predominately Conservative MPs – has earned just over £1.4m annually in salaries and one-off payments from a range of companies.MPs could be banned from having consultancy jobs under plans being considered by the Commons standards committee, as Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle made clear his desire to “cleanse” the House from the current “sleaze” storm.An emergency Commons debate on standards is being held on Monday following the debacle over the government’s botched attempt to rewrite conduct rules and save Tory MP Owen Paterson from suspension after he was found to have breached lobbying rules.Mr Paterson was found to have used his consultancy position to lobby on behalf of two firms paying him more than £100,000 a year, sparking renewed debate over whether MPs should be allowed to hold outside employment.Ahead of the debate, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said his party would back a ban on MPs holding consultancy role and directorships. “We’ve been saying for many, many years that they should go,” he told the BBC.The cross-party standards committee is set to publish its own report soon on the code of conduct and disciplinary process – with a fresh look at consultancy jobs thought to be under consideration.Figures shows that dozens of MPs would lose out on lucrative second jobs paying tens of thousands of pounds a year if a ban was introduced.The highest paid MP for consultancy work is former Tory minister Andrew Mitchell – who receives £182,600 per year working for firms including investment companies Investec, SouthBridge and Kingsley Capital Partners, along with accountants Ernst & Young and consultants Montrose Associates.Others benefit from consultancy roles include Tory MP Chris Grayling is paid £100,000 annually by Hutchison Ports Europe, and former Tory chief whip MP Julian Smith receives a total of £144,000 per year from three companies.There are currently no rules against MPs being paid for advising external businesses so long as they record it in their register of interests – but they must not lobby the government on behalf of those businesses.MPs having jobs that “involve lobbying” should be “looked at again”, cabinet minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said on Monday.The international trade secretary told Sky News: “I think the question of whether MPs having jobs that involve lobbying, I think, perhaps should be looked at again.”Boris Johnson said that it is “very important” to get the standards regime for MPs right, welcoming moves by the Speaker to forge a cross-party consensus on reform of the way the standards system operates.Asked if MPs should be banned from taking second jobs, the PM said: “All those kind of things are issues that the Speaker’s panel – whatever he is going to set up – will have a look at.”Mr Johnson was accused of “running scared” after deciding to stay away from the emergency Commons following the row over Mr Paterson – who has quit as MP for North Shropshire and stepped aside from his consultancy roles.Here is a list of current MPs receiving payments for consultancy or advisory work. It does not include all second jobs listed by MPs, with some continuing to work as lawyers, doctors and nurses, while others are listed as directors of companies.Conor Burns- Trant Engineering, £40,000pa for 120 hoursSir Graham Brady- Snowshill Allied Holdings Ltd, £10,000pa for 12 hoursAndrew Bridgen- Mere Plantations Ltd, £12,000pa for 96 hoursSteve Brine- Remedium Partners, £19,200pa for 96 hours- Microlink PC (UK) Ltd, £19,200pa for 96 hours- Sigma, £19,992pa for 96 hours- Total £58,392pa for 288 hoursAlun Cairns- BBI Group (life sciences), £15,000pa for 70 hours- Veezu Holdings (private hire transport), £15,000pa for 70 hours- Elite Partners Capital Pte Ltd (property investment), £30,000pa for 84 hours- Total £60,000pa for 70 hoursSir Ed Davey- Herbert Smith Freehills, political issues and policy analysis, £60,000pa for 72 hours- Next Energy Capital, member of advisory board, £18,000pa for 48 hours- Total £78,000 for 120 hours – money used to benefit Sir Ed’s disabled sonPhilip Davies- National Pawnbroking Association, £12,000pa for 60-120 hoursDavid Davis- THI Holdings GmbH (German investment company), £33,900pa for 16 hours- Chairs supervisory board of Kohlgartenstrasse 15 Verwaltungs AG (German property company), £16,948pa for 168 hours- Total £50,848 for 184 hoursSir Iain Duncan Smith- International advisory board of Tunstall Health Group, £20,000pa for 30 hours- Byotrol Technology Ltd, £25,000pa for 144 hours- Total £45,000pa for 174 hoursRuth Edwards- MHR International ltd (HR software), £60,000pa for 192 hoursBen Everitt- Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, £15,000pa for 60-80 hoursRichard Fuller- Investcorp Securities director, £20,000pa for 48 hours (plus additional £29,900 for 19 hours in 2021 so far)Mark Garnier- Laser Light Communications (satellites), £60,000pa for 120 hours- Shetland Space Centre, £30,000pa for 120 hours- Total £90,000 for 240 hoursChris Grayling- Hutchison Ports Europe, £100,000pa for 84 hoursDamian Green- Abellio Transport Holdings, on rail policy, £40,000 pa for 288 hoursStephen Hammond- Darwin Alternative Investments, £60,000pa for 50-100 hoursSir John Hayes- BB Energy Trading Ltd, £50,000pa for 80-90 hoursDaniel Kawczynski- The Electrum Group, £36,000pa for 360 hoursSir Greg Knight- Cambridge and Counties Bank Ltd, £16,000pa for 108 hoursAndrew Lewer- Penelope Thornton Hotels, £4,800pa for 48 hoursTim Loughton- Outcomes First Group, £37,000pa for 144 hoursPaul Maynard- Link Scheme Ltd (cash machines), £6,250pa for 32 hours – money paid direct to charityAndrew Mitchell- Investec, £12,000pa for two days- Montrose Associates, £36,000pa for 8 days- Ernst & Young, £30,000pa for five days- Arch Emerging Partners, £15,000pa for 2.5 days- SouthBridge, adviser on African matters to Rwanda-based company, £39,600pa for 9 days- Kingsley Capital Partners, £50,000pa for 8 days plus share options- Total £182,600 for 34.5 daysSir Robert Neill- Weightmans LLP, £15,000pa for 72 hours- Substantia Group, £12,000pa for 72 hours- Masonic Charitable Foundation, £7,500 for 10 hours (one-off payment)- Total £34,500 for 154 hoursAndrew Percy- Iogen Corporation (Canada), a clean energy company, £36,000pa for 36 hoursMark Pritchard- Consumer Credit Association, £18,000pa for 96 hours (a client of Mark Pritchard Advisory)John Redwood- Epic Private Equity, £5,000pa for 12 hoursLaurence Robertson- Betting and Gaming Council, £24,000pa for 120 hoursDean Russell- EPIFNY Consulting, £2,000 for 28 hours in 2021Chris Skidmore- Oxford International Education Group, £10,000pa for 48-96 hoursJulian Smith- Ryse Hydrogen Ltd, £60,000pa for 20 hours- Simply Blue Management (UK) Ltd, £24,000pa for 12-24 hours- MJM Marine Ltd, £60,000pa for 30-40 hours- Total £144,000pa for 62-84 hoursRoyston Smith- Barker Mill Estates, £18,000 for 90 hours since May 2020 More

Related video: Johnson refuses to apologise for handling of sleaze scandal The prime minister is refusing to apologise for his actions in the Owen Paterson paid lobbying scandal, which saw him attempt to save his friend from suspension, after No 10 confirmed the PM will not attend a debate on standards and sleaze in the Commons at 4.15pm today.Responding to the news that Steve Barclay, chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, is instead representing the government at the emergency three-hour discussion, Sir Keir Starmer accused his political opponent of “running scared”.The Labour leader claimed Boris Johnson did not have “the decency either to defend or apologise for his actions”, adding: “When required to lead, he has chosen to hide. His concern, as always, is self-preservation, not the national interest.” It comes after it emerged the Conservatives lost their lead in the latest opinion poll, with Mr Johnson’s “good prime minister” rating plummeting for the first time since he entered No 10. The Tories were down four points to 35 per cent while Labour remained unchanged on 36 per cent, according to the Ipsos Mori poll carried out for The Evening Standard. Follow our live coverage belowShow latest update

1636383316Paterson lobbing row sparked ‘dark week for parliament,’ says HoyleSpeaking ahead of the Commons debate, speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said he hopes discussions today remain more positive than last week, which he described as a “very dark week for parliament”.“We’ve got to move forward,” he told Sky News, adding the emergency debate at 4.15pm was about “trying to get this House in a much better place than where we left it last week”.Asked about reports that his office would be looking to review the standards procedures, Sir Lindsay continued: “I would always say I work with everybody across this House, this House matters to me, the MPs matter, the people who work here matter to me, and what I don’t want is another dark week like last week.“I want to make sure the public have faith in parliamentarians and faith in the House of Commons, and today’s debate will be painful, but the one thing is it’s got to cleanse the House to move forward.” More