Deputy Political Editor and columnist, The Mail on Sunday * Highly commended Political Reporter 2020Press Gazette & nominated scoop & politics 2020 Press Awards
EXCL: Peers for hire - by foreign governments
24 peers were paid £5.4million in 18 months by foreign states inc China, Saudi Arabia & Cayman Islands
The MoS has obtained all payments made to peers by foreign states or state-owned firms since 2022
⬇️
Kirstie Allsopp, daughter of an Eton-educated Baron, tells young people struggling to buy a home to just look in cheaper areas and give up the gym and Netflix
She says she gets 'enraged' when young people can't buy their first home, something she did - with family help - aged 21
Rishi Sunak describes journalist questions about his wife’s earnings as ‘attacks’
But the ministerial code requires ministers to detail their spouse’s business interests - presumably for a reason
Liz Truss tonight: ‘I’m naturally a thrifty person, I like saving money’
Also Liz Truss: as minister insisted on having a taxpayer-funded £1,308 dinner in a private members club, overruling officials who proposed more normal options
Kit Malthouse says Rishi Sunak’s green card is a ‘hangover’ from his US days
His spokesman last night told the MoS he kept it for ‘travel reasons’
We know he submitted annual US tax returns to maintain it for six years after becoming an MP
So which is it?
EXCL: Jacob Rees-Mogg becomes first Cabinet minister dragged into outside interests row - after not declaring £6m in cheap loans from his Cayman Islands-linked company
In tomorrow's Mail on Sunday
Setting aside the daughter-of-a-Baron thing, Allsopp says she was earning £11,500 a year and average UK house prices were £51,000 - so about 5 times her salary
Today, average house price is close to £260,000 - so about *9 times* average salary
(and she still got family help)🤔
At the 1922 committee Aaron Bell specifically asked Boris Johnson if the 20 May 2020 'BYOB' garden drinks was a work event
Johnson replied it was
Police fines for the event - now dropping in inboxes - suggest otherwise
Well this is interesting. When I wrote about this in Nov, this is what the Department of Trade press office told me when asked WHY a £2,850-a-year club was used for public-funded dinner:
'It was organised at quite short notice, so the venue itself was chosen due to availability'
EXC: Liz Truss overruled officials to demand £1.4K lunch at Tory donor's gentleman's club in Mayfair
Officials warned 5 Hertford St was "incredibly expensive"
But per emails, she "refused to consider anywhere else" and "explicitly" rejected alternatives
On this government line that Nus Ghani did not pursue a 'formal complaints process':
To be clear, that process is an internal one run by CCHQ - not in any way independent
She already says she was told she would be 'ostracised' if she kept bringing it up & her career 'destroyed'
John Bercow reads out a note sent to him by Jacob Rees-Mogg, praising his decision to block Theresa May's attempt at another meaningful vote - made on similar grounds to today's decision
NEW
Three ministers voted to revoke Article 50
These are the full list of Tories who voted to revoke:
Guto Bebb
Ken Clarke
Alan Duncan (minister)
Mark Field (minister)
Mike Freer (whip)
Justine Greening
Dominic Grieve
Stephen Hammond (minister)
Richard Harrington
Phillip Lee
Allsopp told the Sunday Times: 'I get enraged when people say they can't afford to buy'
'I bought my first property when I was 21 [..] I used to walk to work and take my own sandwich'
NEW: ITV News has just told me Boris Johnson will NOT be taking part in an interview with Julie Etchingham
ITV said: "Every other leader of Great Britain's main political parties that has been approached has done an interview for Tonight"
@julieetchitv
EXCL:
• NHS staff face 'disgusting' 200% hike in hospital parking costs
• Leaked letter reveals Trust plan to end free COVID parking and hit staff with massive hikes instead
• One nurse’s permit cost will rise from £240 to £720
EXCLUSIVE
Professor Neil Ferguson resigns from government advisory group SAGE after Telegraph reveals he broke lockdown rules to meet his married lover
Daniel Radcliffe in the trailer for the Harry Potter special: ‘I wouldn’t be the person I am without so many people here’
Actually just one person really, who is conspicuously absent from the special…
Truss, after massive Shell profits, which give shareholders £6.5bn, says: "I don't believe in windfall taxes... they send the wrong message to the world."
Chief Nursing Officer Ruth May confirms that she was dropped from the No10 briefing (as per my former colleague
@ShaunLintern
). She tells the Public Accounts Committee: "It is indeed true I was dropped from the briefing but that happens to many of my colleagues as well."
Papers reporting that Neil Ferguson only resigned from Sage after it was revealed he broke lockdown rules to meet his married lover - as minutes now show he stayed on NERVTAG
At the time, the government was clear he had quit *all* government advisory roles, including NERVTAG
💥Column:
EXC: That £45,000 Cummings pay rise? It was approved by the Cabinet Office salary advisory committee
And who sat on the committee? Why, Dom Cummings!
EXCL: Tory MP being paid by consultants to ‘train’ corporate clients for select committee hearings
James Gray currently sits on three committees himself
Labour tonight demands Parliament’s sleaze watchdog investigate
EXC: Durham Police have asked Beergate witnesses if they'd be prepared to testify in court
At least one witness has told the police they agree to testify, if any fines are challenged
The witness claims the Durham gathering was 'entirely social'
By using ‘director’s loans’, Rees-Mogg was able to borrow the £6m at a very low interest rate
The interest he paid amounted to 0.8% of the total borrowed over 3 years
He told me today the loans were taxed
The MP code of conduct requires directors to declare ‘taxable benefits’
Rees-Mogg borrowed up to £2.9m a year in director’s loans from UK-based Saliston Ltd between 2018 and 2020
He did not mention them in his MP register of interests, where he declared himself an ‘unremunerated director’
Your regular reminder that the Cabinet Office is yet to publish the Register of Ministerial Interests, due at the end of 2020
The Ministerial Code says it must be published ‘twice yearly’
Yet we only had one last year, in July
🚨A major row is brewing in the Commons
Labour MPs putting down a King’s Speech amendment on banning conversion therapy - criticising gvt for not including it
Tory whips telling their MPs that they will *lose the whip* if they abstain
Huge anger from liberal Tory MPs
Rees-Mogg insists he did not need to declare the loans in his register
But a Commons sleaze watchdog source said they should ‘absolutely’ have been declared
‘I’ve spent my life in business’ says 42-year old Rishi Sunak, who has been an MP since 2015
He did 3 years as a Goldman Sachs analyst, followed by business school, followed by a few years each at two hedge funds
Sunak’s wife has a stake in Infosys - which continues to operate in Russia
The tech giant has provided IT services for Alfa Bank, recently sanctioned in the UK
Sunak’s father-in-law, who founded the company, welcomed Putin to Infosys in 2004 while he was visiting India
EXCL
Tory ex planning minister is being investigated by Parliamentary watchdog for failing to declare he was on the payroll of a firm behind a luxury hotel development when lobbying the council for it
Bob Neill MP was paid £53,000 for 'strategic advice'
Tough words from Health Secretary Sajid Javid to care home workers: 'If you cant be bothered to go and get vaccinated then get out and get another job'
Significant change in the Queen's language on Brexit:
- In 2017, she said the government's priority is to 'secure the best possible deal' and didn't mention a leaving date
- Today she said the priority is to leave on Oct 31 - putting no deal on the table
👀 Nadhim Zahawi has gone radio silent even with his own team
Expectation is he needs to quit tonight or tomorrow morning to have a decent run at leadership
In his ministerial register Sunak declares his wife owns venture capital investment company Catamaran Ventures UK
Until he became an MP in 2015 Sunak was the co-director of the company, with his wife
Shadow Leader of the House Thangam Debbonaire says Jacob Rees-Mogg should ‘come clean’ about his outside interests
She said Boris Johnson should launch an ‘immediate investigation’ into the minister’s activities
@ThangamMP
Rees-Mogg told me he used the loans ‘primarily’ to buy and refurbish his London townhouse
He would not say what the rest of the money was used for, despite repeated questions
NEW: Parliament’s Standards Commissioner launches investigation into Jacob Rees-Mogg
Comes after Mail on Sunday revealed he did not declare £6m in cheap loans over three years
EXC: Tory MP apologises for saying a 'bomb' should be planted in Labour chair Anneliese Dodds' office
James Gray made the comment on the eve of Labour Party conference in a Tory WhatsApp group
I’ve been working in media for 26 years. Never been interviewed by
@thesundaytimes
. Few series of a BBC1 sitcom, documentaries, etc. This guy acts but finds fame by saying something racist & regressive to people like me and he gets on the front cover. Camilla really? Privilege.
The dinner last June was in £2,850-a-year Mayfair club 5 Hertford St after Truss insisted on venue
- Officials raised concerns it was ‘obviously incredibly expensive’
- Officials suggested alternatives including Quo Vadis
- But Truss ‘explicitly asked’ to book 5Hertford anyway
Government department press officers are civil servants who are the designated people to answer journalists’ questions
They are bound by the civil service code - pledging ‘integrity’ and ‘honesty’
But some increasingly appear to use their position to obfuscate and mislead
What actually happened:
- Truss insisted on venue
- Officials raised concerns it was ‘obviously incredibly expensive’
- Officials suggested alternatives including Quo Vadis
- Truss ‘explicitly asked’ to book 5 Hertford instead
So… not just for ‘availability’ then
LATEST on the missing Register of Ministers’ Interests
Cabinet office now telling me we won’t see an updated register for ‘weeks’
...despite a week ago saying it’ll be published as soon as the ethics advisor is appointed. That happened last week
It’s now 5 months late
Only male journalists got to ask questions at Justin Trudeau presser. His team cut the (long) queue for Qs off just as it got to me
Later someone in Trudeau's team held a door open for me and said: 'Because I saw you didn't get a question'
Not the same thing...🤷♀️
🎉Delighted to be joining The Mail on Sunday as its Deputy Political Editor
I'll miss my brilliant colleagues at The Telegraph but hugely looking forward to getting stuck in at the MoS, where I'll also be writing a Westminster gossip column🕵️♀️
Tory MPs are circulating this William Hague article in the Times - including MPs who voted for Boris Johnson last night
In it Hague says that as leader he would have seen his position ‘completely untenable’ if he had such a result in a confidence vote
FERRIER LATEST
Commons records show she asked for a proxy on the eve she tested positive ‘For medical or public health reasons related to the pandemic'
She appointed the SNP chief whip to stand in as her proxy
This was 2 days before SNP says the whips learned of her Covid test
EXCL: Here is the final text of the Kyle-Wilson amendment, tweaked after input from Keir Starmer.
It will be tabled on MeaningfulVote3 this week and Labour will whip for it.
It aims to get May's deal over the line in Parliament - but only if it is then put to a referendum.
Compare and contrast press office statement of 'It was organised at quite short notice, so the venue itself was chosen due to availability' to what now emerges from FOI...
EXCL
A frontbench peer has furloughed *himself* - while also claiming Lords £162 daily attendance allowance
Lord Fox is the owner & only employee of his ‘strategic communications’ firm
He furloughed himself despite having £100,000 cash in the bank
EXCL: Labour ex Attorney General Peter Goldsmith takes 'leave of absence' from House of Lords - to not have to declare how much he earns from foreign government clients, including Russia
Today MPs and peers call for the 'absence' system to be scrapped
Within less than two hours of MPs voting to anonymise all MPs under investigation for misconduct, ALL the investigations have been deleted from the Parliamentary standards commissioner's website. So much for transparency.
NEW: 'One Nation' Tory MPs have told the Chief Whip they will vote against Boris Johnson's Dec 12 election on Monday
They held a private meeting with the whips on Thursday, and discussions continued today. 'At least 20' expected not to support election
UPDATE: Understand Aaron Bell's 1922 question was actually about the 'ABBA' party in the Number 10 flat - which PM replied was a work event
Johnson has told the Commons he thought the 20 May BOYB garden drinks were also a 'work event'
Shadow health secretary
@JonAshworth
said: 'What a disgusting kick in the teeth to hard working, brave NHS staff working all hours in the middle of the second coronavirus wave.
'The fat cats running these car parks should be ashamed.
@MattHancock
needs to step in &sort this out'
Oof. Theresa May attacks appointment of David Frost as National Security Advisor:
Praises 'expert independent advice' she received in 9 years on the national security council
Says: 'Why then is the new NSA a political appointee with no proven expertise in national security?' 🔥
Called Aston Taxis (whose cards have been left out in the Chequers foyer for any minister who don't want to go back in their ministerial car) and their number is no longer in service...
Putting aside the obvious problems with organisations marking their own homework with internal processes...
The fact she claims she was *threatened* at the time she tried to - repeatedly - flag this issue should be enough to make clear a thorough investigation is needed
Ben Bradley: Why I refuse to take part in the Orwellian ‘re-education’ courses that tell people they are racists
… after Mail on Sunday revealed Parliament has paid ‘woke’ consultants £750k
@BBradley_Mans
As Dominic Raab positions himself as the 'no deal' Brexit candidate to succeed May, Tories react:
One senior backbencher says: 'It’s an interesting alignment', pointing out 157 Tory MPs voted for no deal in the indicative votes.
EXC: Political ‘icon’ Betty Boothroyd, 91, being investigated by Parliament watchdog over failing to attend a sexual harassment course
Officials launched the probe despite knowing she has been recovering from open heart surgery
MPs said it is ‘political correctness gone mad’
Boris Johnson told MPs in the tea room last night - there were seven MPs in the Carlton Club last week with Chris Pincher, why didn’t anyone stop him?
Tory MP just says it in PMQs
I heard this earlier from another MP who was in the tea room and heard it too
@julieetchitv
ITV will run a profile of the PM instead
The Channel repeatedly contacted No10 offering times and dates for the interview but Johnson's team 'today confirmed he will not be taking part'
EXCL: ‘Doctor Who’ Tory MP reported to sleaze watchdog over his outside interests
Nick Fletcher initiated a debate in Parliament on 'promotion of electric vehicle usage' while working for a company that installs electric vehicle charging points
BREAKING: Labour party has forced out the councillor husband of one of the nine MPs who quit the party last week in what she says is a "vengeful act".
Steve Wilson, Sheffield councillor for eight years and husband of Angela Smith, the
@TheIndGroup
, quit last night.
To his credit, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi immediately called for a full investigation as soon as Ghani spoke out last night
Unlike his Cabinet colleagues
Lister owns more than £50,000 of shares in Johnson Controls, which has won six public contracts since he joined Downing Street
In 2017 Johnson Controls merged with Tyco, where Lister worked for more than a decade as ‘director of government relations’
BREAKING: the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner has today launched a formal investigation into Jeremy Hunt for breaching MP rules over his property empire.
EXC: At an auction for Tory donors last week, two prize lots were won by none other than Mohamed Amersi
The same Amersi who is at war with the Tories over... prizes he says he hasn't received from past auctions, including breakfast with Boris
CCHQ is 'furious' Amersi was there
EXC: Ben Wallace says Tory peer Lord Barker must:
- quit his job at Russian energy giant EN+
- resign from House of Lords
- ‘explain why he works with people like Deripaska’
In my front ups to Ferguson and the government on May 5, I asked whether he will be resigning from Sage and NERVTAG
Ferguson's apology, received hours later, said Sage. But the government said NERVTAG too
The delay in publishing minutes raise serious gvt transparency questions
NW Durham Tory MP
@RicHolden
said: ‘The fact that court action has been mentioned is a sign of just how seriously both the police and witnesses are taking this.
‘It shows all bases are being rightly covered in case Keir Starmer, decided to challenge any potential fines in court’