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Five shadow ministers breach MPs’ rules in five months

(Photo by Hollie Adams/Getty Images)

Oh dear. David Lammy is in hot water yet again. With six figures’ worth of outside interests, it can be hard to keep track of all those extra payments. And now the Shadow Foreign Secretary’s media outings have tripped him up once again, thanks to no less than 16 occasions in which he did not declare payments on time.

They include a number of commercial radio shows and Black History Month speeches, with a total value of more than £35,000. Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, opened an investigation on 15 June. The rulebook states MPs must declare any interest that may reasonably be considered to influence their actions within 28 days. According to the Telegraph, Lammy has now promised to set reminders in his team calendar and include discussion of the register of interests in weekly team meetings. Whoops!

He thus becomes the fifth Labour frontbencher to be rapped by the parliamentary commissioner for standards in just five months. It follows rebukes by Kathryn Stone for Rachel Reeves (failed to accurately register a donation and within deadlines), Chris Evans (breached the rules on All Party Parliamentary Groups), Jess Phillips (forgot to register 18 interests within the mandatory 28-day period) and Sir Keir Starmer himself (didn’t record eight interests on time, including gifts from football teams and the sale of a plot of land).

Mr Rules? Don’t take us for fools…

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Steerpike
Written by
Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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