History suggests British Jewish leaders are wrong to shy away from the notion of distinctive voting patterns among Jews
Geoffrey Alderman
In the early 1970s, as I researched a textbook on the British electoral system, I became aware of a very significant gap in the then existing literature on voting habits among the British electorate. A great deal of material existed, naturally, on socio-economic class and its electoral impact. There was some material – not as much as there might have been – on the relationship between religion and voting. And some research had been carried out into the Irish vote – research that was principally an offshoot of the much greater body of research into “the Irish question”. But on the relationship between ethnicity and voting there was very little indeed. I was determined to repair this omission, and began polling Jewish voting intentions in selected London constituencies.
A phone call reached me from an organisation calling itself the Board of Deputies of British Jews. I was invited to lunch with its so-called defence department. And at that lunch I was ordered – repeat ordered – to cease forthwith my investigation of Jewish voting habits. Jews, I was told, voted just like everyone else. To poll a sample of Jews was to poll a sample of “ordinary” voters – no more and no less. So what was the point of my efforts? Besides, my hosts added, to ask how Jews were going to vote, or had voted, was to plant in the minds of the non-Jewish community, among whom we British Jews lived, the idea that Jews were not fully integrated into British society.I was told that Jews, in fact, were fully integrated. There was, therefore, no “Jewish dimension” to an election, and to suggest otherwise was to place the entirety of British Jewry in some (ill-defined) jeopardy.
I did not pay attention to these strictures. Or rather, I did pay attention to them, but only as evidence that could help me answer the question why the Jewish vote in British politics had been so poorly researched.Within British Jewry, image is everything. And the fact was that for generations, the fathers of the community had decreed that there must be no hint of a special, distinctive “Jewish” vote in the British body politic.
History, however, tells a different story. The votes of Jewish electors played a pivotal role in the epic struggle of Lionel de Rothschild (1847-58) to enter the House of Commons as a professing Jew, because the constituency for which he repeatedly stood – the City of London – contained several hundred Jewish businessmen who qualified for the property-related franchise. The parliamentary career of Samuel Montagu, a Yiddish speaking banker, was built on his relationship with his Jewish electors in that most Jewish of constituencies, Whitechapel, for which he sat as Liberal MP 1885-1900. The near-defeat of the Labour candidate at the Whitechapel by-election of November-December 1930 was a major factor in the decision of Ramsay Macdonald’s minority Labour government to ditch its anti-Zionist policy in Palestine.
The Jewish vote was pivotal to the 1945 victory of Britain’s last Communist MP, Phil Piratin, at Stepney, but it was equally pivotal to the defeat of Maurice Orbach (a self-proclaimed Labour Zionist who had conspicuously failed to support Israel during the Suez crisis) at East Willesden in 1959. In February 1974, his Jewish electors saved John Gorst, a gentile Zionist, from defeat at Hendon North. Four years later, on the other side of London, the Jews gave the Conservative candidate a resounding victory at a dramatic by-election at Ilford North, where Sir Keith Joseph had openly – and most successfully – campaigned for his Jewish brethren to support Thatcherite economic and immigration policies.
What of the present electoral contest? Jews, however defined, form no more than half of one percent of the UK population, but they are heavily concentrated in London and Manchester. Of the constituencies in which Jews account for at least 10% of the population, seven are Labour held. One of these – Finchley & Golders Green – is so highly marginal that it seems bound to be lost to the Conservatives irrespective of any special Jewish factor.
But in another, the adjacent Hendon seat, which could fall to the Tories on a swing of about 3.8%, there is an ongoing battle for the Jewish vote.Andrew Dismore, who has held the seat for Labour since 1997, has impeccable Zionist credentials (he would not otherwise have become MP for Hendon), but his constituency standing has been undermined by the Labour’s government’s failure to amend the “universal jurisdiction” law, which currently permits private citizens to apply for the arrest of prominent Israeli politicians who set foot on British soil, and by David Miliband’s recent condemnation of Israel over the use of fake British passports in the Dubai assassination of a senior Hamas terrorist. To add to Dismore’s woes, the Muslim Public Affairs Committee is encouraging its supporters in Hendon to vote for anyone but him. So a curious combination of Jewish votes and Muslim votes for Matthew Offord, his Conservative challenger, could hand the seat to the Tories.
But in a nationwide political contest as knife-edge as the present one appears to be, it isn’t only in recognisably “Jewish” constituencies that Jewish votes count. Jewish voters might prove critical to outcomes in seats as far apart as “Jewish” Bury South (where Ivan Lewis, Miliband’s second-in-command, is facing a very strong challenge from Michelle Wiseman, chief executive of Manchester Jewish Community Care) and East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, in which the comparatively tiny Jewish community may be persuaded to save Jim Murphy, the Scottish secretary, who is, naturally, a leading light in Labour Friends of Israel.
Whatever the present Anglo-Jewish leadership may wish, the Jewish vote, in other words, is very much alive and well.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/apr/19/jewish-vote-really-does-count, 19 April 2010
Andrew Dismore with Israeli Ambassador Ron Prosser, at Trafalgar Square
By Alex Hayes
THE Labour candidate for the Hendon Parliamentary seat has said the intervention of an anti-Zionist Muslim group in his election campaign is “worrying”.
Andrew Dismore has been attacked by the Muslim Public Affairs Committee (MPAC) for his pro-Zionist views and record in Parliament.
After a hustings at Hendon Mosque the group distributed 2,000 leaflets urging people not to vote for Mr Dismore, who is vice chairman of the Labour Friends of Israel, and instead vote for the Lib Dems or Tories.
Mr Dismore said: “What’s worrying is this intervention in the election runs the risk of creating real divisions in the community.
“We’ve had traditionally good relations between the communities in Hendon and we could do without this interference from outsiders.
“I suspect there’s nothing between us on the politics of Palestine.”
Lib Dem candidate Matthew Harris, a vice chariman of his party’s Friends of Israel, has also rejected the backing of the group.
In a statement on his website he said: “I am pleased and proud to be a friend of Israel, campaigning for a two-state solution that will bring peace, justice and security to Palestinans and Israelis alike.
“I strongly dislike MPAC’s policies and its campaigning methods. But if anyone is thinking of voting for me because MPAC has advised them to vote Lib Dem or Tory as a way of ousting Hendon’s Labour MP, I would advise them to vote for someone else – I reject MPAC’s support.”
However, Tahir Shah, a spokesman for MPAC, said the group were not against Jewish people, but opposed Zionists.
He said: “Whatever faith the candidates are makes no difference politically. We are against Andrew Dismore’s record in Parliament.
“He has shown hostility towards the people of Palestine with his voting record.”
Mr Shah said MPAC’s focus was to get more Muslims involved in politics with the major parties to prevent extremism in the community.
12th April 2010
Andrew with Board of Deputies of British Jews President Henry Grunwald QC
Few MPs have worked as tirelessly on Israel causes as Andrew Dismore
By Marcus Dysch
In recent weeks voters in Hendon have been preoccupied more with matzah prices than turnout forecasts and swing percentages.
But they are now likely to find themselves at the forefront of fevered election activity.
Labour’s Andrew Dismore, who has held the seat since 1997, faces a critical challenge from Tory Matthew Offord and the Liberal Democrats’ Matthew Harris, who is Jewish.
Although the constituency is ranked 73rd on the Tories’ list of targets, analysts put it in the top four of the essential 80 seats the party must win to topple Gordon Brown.
David Cameron’s troops must gain 116 seats for an overall Commons majority. Hendon, requiring just a four per cent swing away from Labour, is very much up for grabs.
Senior politicians have already visited; Foreign Secretary David Miliband popped in to a school last month, days after former Tory leader William Hague spoke to local members of Conservative Friends of Israel.
While Hendon voters are concerned over local matters such as hospitals and transport, candidates are likely to face tougher questioning on Jewish doorsteps over their handling of wider issues concerning Israel.
Few MPs have worked as tirelessly on these causes as Mr Dismore. He has frequently urged Parliament to take action on looted art restitution, led calls for a national Holocaust Memorial Day and regularly defended Israel.
He may just escape the potential fall-out from Labour’s handling of the universal jurisdiction fiasco thanks to his (unsuccessful) Private Member’s Bill.
Mr Offord, former deputy leader of Barnet Council, is also a long-standing friend of Israel.
In recent weeks I have spotted him regularly pounding the streets, chatting to residents. Five years ago, he was the Tories’ election agent in Hendon, overseeing Mr Dismore’s majority being slashed by 5,000. That work could now prove crucial in aiding his own attempt to secure a seat. Mr Harris, vice-chairman of Lib Dem Friends of Israel, faces an uphill struggle. Despite his history as a dedicated local campaigner, he will suffer as a result of the party’s recent catastrophic track record on Israel.
He has valiantly attempted to defend his party, despite Baroness Tonge’s outbursts, calls to suspend arms sales to Israel, and the leadership of Nick Clegg, a man who failed to realise that Israel is a Jewish state.
For the next month, political eyes will be firmly fixed on this distinctly Jewish corner of north-west London. If Mr Offord is successful, Mr Cameron is likely to find himself at Number 10.
Martin Linton, chair of Labour Friends of Palestine
The election campaign took a distinctly unpleasant turn last week as pro-Palestinian MPs suggested the “Israel lobby” would play a behind-the-scenes role in key constituencies.
Martin Linton, chair of Labour Friends of Palestine, told a meeting at the House of Commons held by the Palestine Solidarity
Campaign and Friends of al-Aqsa: “There are long tentacles of Israel in this country who are funding election campaigns and putting money into the British political system for their own ends.
“You must consider over the next few weeks, when you make decisions about how you vote and how you advise constituents to vote, you must make them aware of the attempt by Israelis and by pro-Israelis to influence the election.”
Mr Linton sits on a tiny 163-vote majority in the London seat of Battersea and is unlikely to survive the election.
The veteran Jewish anti-Zionist MP Sir Gerald Kaufman suggested wealthy members of the community would play a role similar to that of Tory “non-dom” peer Michael Ashcroft. “Just as Lord Ashcroft owns most of the Conservative Party, right-wing Jewish millionaires own the rest,” he said.
Community Security Trust spokesman Mark Gardner said: “Anybody who understands antisemitism will recognise just how ugly and objectionable these quotes are, with their imagery of Jewish control and money power. Ask the average voter who had made these comments, and they would most likely answer that it was the BNP, not a pair of Labour MPs.”
A main concern for the Jewish community will be the threat of the BNP.
The two key target constituencies for the BNP are Barking, where the party’s leader Nick Griffin will stand against Jewish culture minister Margaret Hodge, and East Renfrewshire in Glasgow, where the Scottish BNP leader Gary Raikes will take on Secretary of State for Scotland, Jim Murphy. East Renfrewshire contains Scotland’s largest Jewish community.
Where the BNP is strongest, in parts of the north of England and in east London, the Jewish vote itself will make little difference. However, there are a handful of marginal constituencies where the size of the Jewish communities could make all the difference.
It is very unlikely that Labour can hold on to Margaret Thatcher’s old seat of Finchley and Golders Green, where the incumbent Rudi Vis is standing down and Tory leader of Barnet Council Mike Freer is confident of victory.
In neighbouring Hendon, Andrew Dismore has been a consistent champion of the concerns of the local Jewish community. But after a series of allegations about his expenses, he faces a tough fight with the Tories’ Matthew Offord and Matthew Harris, secretary of Lib Dem Friends of Israel.
One of the most intriguing battles will be for the Bury South seat of Middle East minister Ivan Lewis, a former chair of Manchester Jewish Federation. Although Mr Lewis sits on a substantial majority, he faces a formidable opponent in Michelle Wiseman, Chief Executive of Manchester Jewish Care.
Hundreds of breaches of parliamentary rules by MPs who accepted free overseas trips from foreign governments have been uncovered by a BBC investigation.
More than 20 MPs broke rules on declaring hospitality in questions or debates after visiting locations such as the Maldives, Cyprus and Gibraltar.
The MPs – from Labour, the Tories and the Lib Dems – breached parliamentary regulations on more than 400 occasions.
One former standards watchdog says it shows MPs cannot regulate themselves.
Some MPs dismissed the breaches as technical errors or oversights.
However, the former Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, Sir Alistair Graham, told the BBC repeated rule breaches threatened to “undermine the integrity” of the democratic system.
He said it “demonstrated the failure of the self-regulating system”, adding: “This is a very worrying situation which will further demean the standing of Parliament.”
Conservative leader David Cameron said: “The Parliamentary Standards Commissioner must get to the bottom of what’s happened in every case and we must look at the penalties that apply when rules like this are broken.”
He said the self-regulating system was “at the heart of the problem” and that it might be necessary to change its structure.
Mr Cameron added that a system of imposing automatic fixed penalties on MPs who break rules might be appropriate.
The rules on overseas visits are there to ensure that no-one can accuse MPs of accepting foreign hospitality in return for political favours, for example pressing the UK government for financial assistance.
They require MPs to register such visits and then declare relevant trips in questions, motions or debates.
One of those who appears to have fallen foul of the code of conduct is Labour’s Andrew Dismore, a member of the Commons Standards and Privileges Committee – the very body which polices MPs’ behaviour.
He broke rules more than 90 times, following annual visits to Cyprus, by failing to declare the hospitality when raising issues about the island in Parliament.
In total, he has tabled more than 200 Commons questions about Cyprus since the last election in 2005, on topics such as missing persons from the island and its victims of past conflict between Turkey and Greece.
The Commons information office estimates it costs on average £149 to answer a written question.
Mr Dismore has also signed motions and led debates about Cyprus. However, he denies any wrongdoing and claims his questions about Cyprus were not sufficiently relevant to his trips to require a declaration.
Conservative David Amess has admitted failing to register a free trip to the Maldives – regarded as a “very serious” breach of the rules by the Committee on Standards and Privileges, according to the MPs’ code of conduct.
He also accepts he did not register a second trip for almost a year, blaming an administrative error by his office staff.
‘Paradise’
During a debate he tabled about the Maldives in 2007, Mr Amess told the Commons how his “splendid visit” had given him “an early taste of paradise”.
“No words can describe adequately just how beautiful the islands are,” he added, before suggesting the UK Government “could be encouraged to do a little more than is being done at the moment” for the islands in the Indian Ocean.
Despite leading two debates about UK support for the Maldives and asking 15 questions about the islands, he failed to declare an interest. Referring to the MPs’ code of conduct, Mr Amess told the BBC: “It is for the member to judge whether a financial interest is sufficiently relevant.”
Liberal Democrat Norman Baker, who has been actively calling for a clean-up of Parliament following the expenses scandal, has admitted breaching the rules on 37 occasions.
In a statement to the BBC, Mr Baker accepts he failed to declare an interest when leading debates and tabling questions about topics such as human rights in Tibet. He has travelled to India twice, courtesy of the Tibet Society and the Tibet government-in-exile.
“I should have then declared a relevant interest in respect of the parliamentary activities you list,” he said. “It is an unintended oversight that I did not.”
The MP who heads the Commons Public Administration Select Committee, Tony Wright, told the BBC that such rule-breaking was “unacceptable” and that the system should be more transparent.
“Declarations should be the norm. It is quite proper for MPs to go on visits. Some of those visits will be financed by foreign governments. But… if they’re lobbying on behalf of governments who have paid for their visits, then clearly we need to know about it.”
The rules are enforced by MPs themselves. Breaches are only investigated if a formal complaint is made and there is no independent body to ensure that members stick to the regulations.
Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox has admitted breaking the rules on two occasions, having visited Sri Lanka five times in the past three years courtesy of its government. He failed to declare the hospitality when asking ministers how much UK aid had been given to Sri Lanka.
In a statement, Mr Fox said: “I should have noted an interest and will be writing to the registrar to make this clear.” He blamed a “changeover of staffing responsibilities” for registering one of his visits more than two months late.
During the current Parliament, Gibraltar’s government has funded 31 trips for MPs to attend an annual street party on the territory.
Street party
Labour’s Lindsay Hoyle has been a guest at these National Day Celebrations three times. Following his visits he has asked 30 questions, tabled three early day motions and signed a further seven, all without declaring his interest.
Mr Hoyle also broke the rules by failing to declare an interest following registered trips to the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands.
“I have never received or sought any financial benefit,” he told the BBC.
Conservative Andrew Rosindell has been a guest of Gibraltar’s government twice in recent years. He subsequently asked 48 questions and signed or sponsored nine motions related to the territory without declaring an interest.
Thirteen of his questions about Gibraltar were before a visit had been registered. The BBC put the matters to Mr Rosindell but has yet to receive a response.
The BBC has identified a further 10 MPs from all three major parties who have been guests of Gibraltar’s government and shortly afterwards breached rules when signing motions or tabling questions about the territory.
The investigation has also identified three more Labour MPs and another Conservative who failed to declare an interest following visits to Cyprus.
Cabinet ministers rounded on their former colleagues, including Stephen Byers, Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon, who were caught trying to sell their influence for cash.
Cabinet members have vowed to tighten up lobbying laws
Related Tags:
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They vowed to tighten up lobbying laws after MPs including Stephen Byers, Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon were secretly filmed talking to undercover reporters.
‘There is absolutely no room for the sort of innuendo or promises that seem to have been floated in this case,’ said foreign secretary David Miliband.
Chancellor Alistair Darling sugges ted the MPs had been naive to fall for the sting targeting 20 MPs standing down at the next general election.
‘Really, what on earth did they think they were doing?’ he said.
‘The best answer when you get a call like that is to put the receiver back down again – it’s obvious.’
In the footage for Channel 4’s Dispatches programme, former transport secretary Mr Byers described himself as ‘like a sort of cab for hire’ – charging £5,000 a day to pull the strings of movers and shakers. He also claimed to have influenced Lord Adonis in his dealings with National Express.
Former health secretary Ms Hewitt allegedly said she had helped a client paying her £3,000 a day to win a seat on a government advisory group.
And ex-defence secretary Geoff Hoon is said to have offered introductions to current ministers, in return for fees of £5,000 a day.
Mr Byers last night insisted he had ‘never lobbied ministers on behalf of commercial organisations’. He said he had made ‘exaggerated claims’ in the discussions caught on camera.
, 21st March, 2010
[2]
Calls for inquiry into ‘MPs for hire’ scandal
Damian Whitworth, Francis Elliott and Alex Ralph
David Cameron demanded yesterday that Gordon Brown investigate a boast by the former Cabinet minister Stephen Byers that he had used his influence to change policies to favour businesses.
The former Transport Secretary [Lord Adonis], who was secretly filmed offering himself “like a sort of cab for hire” for up to £5,000 a day, will be referred to the parliamentary standards watchdog today.
Mr Byers told an undercover reporter that he had secured secret deals with ministers and said that he received confidential information from No 10 and was able to help firms involved in price fixing to get around the law.
The claims gravely embarrassed Labour, which rushed forward a promise to introduce a compulsory register of lobbying which it said had been planned for the election manifesto.
Thirteen Labour MPs and seven Tories were approached by investigators for Channel 4’s Dispatches and The Sunday Times, pretending to be executives from a fictitious American lobbying firm. The others to feature in the documentary to be screened tonight are Labour’s Geoff Hoon, Patricia Hewitt, Margaret Moran and Baroness Morgan and the Tory MP Sir John Butterfill, who is understood to have boasted about his closeness to Mr Cameron.
Mr Byers was covertly filmed telling the reporter that he would be able to lobby ministers and gave examples of where he had done so before. He said he would charge £3,000-£5,000 a day and claimed he had done a deal with Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, to benefit National Express. He later retracted his claims and he, Lord Adonis and National Express all strongly denied any deal yesterday.
All of the MPs filmed, including Ms Hewitt and Mr Hoon, former Cabinet ministers, denied any wrongdoing and insisted that they had breached no rules. “I am confident that any investigation from the Standards Commissioner will confirm that I have always fully complied with the MPs’ code of conduct,” Mr Byers said. “I have never lobbied ministers on behalf of commercial organisations and have always fully disclosed my outside interests.”
Mr Hoon, a former Defence Secretary, reportedly said that he charged £3,000 a day and was looking to turn his knowledge and contacts into “something that frankly makes money”. He said: “At no stage did I offer, nor would I attempt to, sell confidential or privileged information arising from my time in government.”
Ms Hewitt said she “completely rejected” the allegation that she helped to obtain a key seat on a government advisory group for a client paying £3,000 a day.
The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats said they would table parliamentary questions about the claims in an attempt to see if there had been breaches of the ministerial code.
“I have been warning for some time that lobbying is the next scandal to hit British politics,” Mr Cameron said. “These are shocking allegations. The House of Commons needs to conduct a thorough investigation into these ex-Labour ministers.”
He said that the Prime Minister “would want to get to the bottom of the accusations being made about his Government — and real change is needed”.
Senior Cabinet ministers distanced themselves from their former colleagues.
Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, said it was “ridiculous” that the MPs had been caught out in the sting. “The best answer when you get a call like that is to put the receiver back down again. There are rules about serving MPs — we’ve said that we are going to have to get a statutory-backed code of conduct to deal with former ministers. But really, what on earth did they think they were doing?”
David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said that he was “appalled” and added: “There is absolutely no room for anyone to trade on their ministerial office.”
Research by The Times shows eight former ministers have made up to £370,000 in outside work of various kinds since announcing they would be stepping down as MPs. They include John Prescott, John Reid, John Hutton, Alan Milburn and Ms Hewitt. Mr Prescott, former Deputy Prime Minister, has made up to £166,000, mostly through television documentaries and his autobiography.
, March 22, 2010
[3]
[4]
MPs’ foreign visit rules breached
Hundreds of breaches of parliamentary rules by MPs who accepted free overseas trips from foreign governments have been uncovered by a BBC investigation.
More than 20 MPs broke rules on declaring hospitality in questions or debates after visiting locations such as the Maldives, Cyprus and Gibraltar.
Between them, the MPs – from all the major parties – breached parliamentary regulations on more than 400 occasions.
One former standards watchdog says it shows MPs cannot regulate themselves.
Some MPs dismissed the breaches as technical errors or oversights.
However, the former Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, Sir Alistair Graham, told the BBC repeated rule breaches threatened to “undermine the integrity” of the democratic system.
He said it “demonstrated the failure of the self-regulating system of discipline in the Commons” and called for a shake-up of the way MPs’ behaviour is monitored.
“This is a very worrying situation which will further demean the standing of Parliament,” he said.
BBC home editor Mark Easton, who led the investigation, said it would raise further questions about the Commons’ ability to regulate itself.
The rules on overseas visits are there to ensure that no-one can accuse MPs of accepting foreign hospitality in return for political favours, for example pressing the UK government for financial assistance.
They require MPs to register such visits and then declare relevant trips in questions, motions or debates.
One of those who appears to have fallen foul of the code of conduct is Labour’s Andrew Dismore, a member ofthe Commons Standards and Privileges Committee – the very body which polices MPs’ behaviour.
He broke rules more than 90 times, following annual visits to Cyprus, by failing to declare the hospitality when raising issues about the island in Parliament.
In total, he has tabled more than 200 Commons questions about Cyprus since the last election in 2005, on topics such as missing persons from the island and its victims of past conflict between Turkey and Greece.
The Commons information office estimates it costs on average £149 to answer a written question.
Mr Dismore has also signed motions and led debates about Cyprus. However, he denies any wrongdoing and claims his questions about Cyprus were not sufficiently relevant to his trips to require a declaration.
Conservative David Amess has admitted failing to register a free trip to the Maldives – regarded as a “very serious” breach of the rules by the Committee on Standards and Privileges, according to the MPs’ code of conduct.
He also accepts he did not register a second trip for almost a year, blaming an administrative error by his office staff.
‘Paradise’
During a debate he tabled about the Maldives in 2007, Mr Amess told the Commons how his “splendid visit” had given him “an early taste of paradise”.
“No words can describe adequately just how beautiful the islands are,” he added, before suggesting the UK Government “could be encouraged to do a little more than is being done at the moment” for the islands in the Indian Ocean.
Despite leading two debates about UK support for the Maldives and asking 15 questions about the islands, he failed to declare an interest. Referring to the MPs’ code of conduct, Mr Amess told the BBC: “It is for the member to judge whether a financial interest is sufficiently relevant.”
Liberal Democrat Norman Baker, who has been actively calling for a clean-up of Parliament following the expenses scandal, has admitted breaching the rules on 37 occasions.
In a statement to the BBC, Mr Baker accepts he failed to declare an interest when leading debates and tabling questions about topics such as human rights in Tibet. He has travelled to India twice, courtesy of the Tibet Society and the Tibet government-in-exile.
“I should have then declared a relevant interest in respect of the parliamentary activities you list,” he said. “It is an unintended oversight that I did not.”
The MP who heads the Commons Public Administration Select Committee, Tony Wright, told the BBC that such rule-breaking was “unacceptable” and that the system should be more transparent.
“Declarations should be the norm. It is quite proper for MPs to go on visits. Some of those visits will be financed by foreign governments. But… if they’re lobbying on behalf of governments who have paid for their visits, then clearly we need to know about it.”
The rules are enforced by MPs themselves. Breaches are only investigated if a formal complaint is made and there is no independent body to ensure that members stick to the regulations.
Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox has admitted breaking the rules on two occasions, having visited Sri Lanka five times in the past three years courtesy of its government. He failed to declare the hospitality when asking ministers how much UK aid had been given to Sri Lanka.
In a statement, Mr Fox said: “I should have noted an interest and will be writing to the registrar to make this clear.” He blamed a “changeover of staffing responsibilities” for registering one of his visits more than two months late.
During the current Parliament, Gibraltar’s government has funded 31 trips for MPs to attend an annual street party on the territory.
Street party
Labour’s Lindsay Hoyle has been a guest at these National Day Celebrations three times. Following his visits he has asked 30 questions, tabled three early day motions and signed a further seven, all without declaring his interest.
Mr Hoyle also broke the rules by failing to declare an interest following registered trips to the Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands.
“I have never received or sought any financial benefit,” he told the BBC.
Conservative Andrew Rosindell has been a guest of Gibraltar’s government twice in recent years. He subsequently asked 48 questions and signed or sponsored nine motions related to the territory without declaring an interest.
Thirteen of his questions about Gibraltar were before a visit had been registered. The BBC put the matters to Mr Rosindell but has yet to receive a response.
The BBC has identified a further 10 MPs from all three major parties who have been guests of Gibraltar’s government and shortly afterwards breached rules when signing motions or tabling questions about the territory.
The investigation has also identified three more Labour MPs and another Conservative who failed to declare an interest following visits to Cyprus.
MPs who have breached the rules:
David Amess
Norman Baker
Crispin Blunt
Graham Brady
Colin Breed
David Burrowes
Andrew Dismore
Jim Dobbin
Alan Duncan
Liam Fox
Mike Hancock
Lindsay Hoyle
Paul Keetch
Bob Laxton
David Lepper
Andrew Love
Madeline Moon
Mike Penning
Andrew Rosindell
Richard Spring
Theresa Villiers
Rudi Vis
DECLARING FOREIGN TRIPS
Any MP who has an overseas trip paid for by a foreign government must register it within four weeks
They must declare a financial interest if it “might reasonably be thought by others to influence the speech, representation or communication in question”
This includes when tabling questions, motions, bills or amendments, and when speaking out during Commons proceedings
Members may not, for example, call for increased UK financial assistance to the government which provided the hospitality
Q&A – MPs’ foreign trips rules
ANALYSIS
By Mark Easton, BBC home editor
The point of the regulations is to ensure that a sceptical citizenry can be confident about the integrity of their elected representatives.
Transparency is key.
The whole system only works if members take this responsibility seriously. Declaration doesn’t imply wrongdoing, but a failure to declare might be interpreted that way.
The widespread abuse of the system uncovered by our investigation suggests some Members of Parliament don’t understand this.
But what really struck me as I conducted the investigation is that the system of scrutiny surrounding the rules clearly does not work.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8580183.stm, 22 March 2010
Geoffrey Alderman
By Mark Easton, BBC home editor