It’s tough at the top in Westminster. You’ve climbed the greasy pole in British politics only to be buried in red boxes, urgent questions and endless morning media rounds. But there are some perks to being a government frontbencher: as the latest release of ministerial gifts makes clear. Released just before the current recess, they shed some light on the tastes of Boris Johnson’s top team.
The ministerial code states that ministers are allowed to keep only gifts below the value of £140, unless they pay their value above that sum. So when they dig into their own pockets to keep one, a picture of their tastes begins to emerge. Johnson, for instance, was given 10 gifts between October to December last year, including wine and a leather handbag for Carrie from Mario Draghi, Italy’s Prime Minister. Other items include a wooden bicycle from his Japanese counterpart and a glass bowl from Joe Biden.
Yet of all the gifts, he only chose to buy one: a bottle of rum from the PM of Barbados. Must have been good stuff. Bad luck for Jack Brereton MP who, perhaps hoping to curry favour with No. 10 sent Boris some chinaware which he subsequently chose not to buy. Hampers seem to be very much a theme with Johnson’s ministers though, with Health Secretary Sajid Javid choosing to purchase a £150 Fortnum and Mason’s Gift Basket from the Qatar Embassy. A quick search by Mr S suggests that could either be the herbivore hamper or the six course wine one – ideal perhaps for any Downing Street garden party.
Hampers seem to be very much a theme of ministerial declarations. The Hinduja brothers sent one to both Johnson and Rishi Sunak: given the former’s money problems, it’s perhaps not a surprise that the Cabinet Office still holds his. Ben Wallace also got a Harrods one on 23 December – presumably to mark Christmas – from the Qatar Defence Attache Office. His junior Leo Docherty collected a similar one plus two chalices from the embassy of Nepal. COP President Alok Sharma instead donated his one to charity.
Other gifts were rather more esoteric: at Transport Robert Courts got a commemorative book about Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan from Abu Dhabi airport. This presumably riveting read was judged to be worth £700. Unsurprisingly, Courts chose to leave it with his department, alongside a helmsman rotating clock wheel from the Pakistan minister for maritime affairs. Likewise, the-then Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab chose not to purchase a book given to him by the Chinese Embassy on ‘the Most Beautiful Chinese Classical Paintings.’ Probably a wise choice, given the ongoing genocide in Xinjiang.
Equally revealing were the list of ministerial meetings. Boris Johnson found time to meet with his predecessor Tony Blair, while Sajid Javid met with the Tony Blair Institute as did junior foreign minister James Duddridge ‘to discuss Africa issues.’ Hopefully not of the Ugandan kind. Baroness Evans, the Leader of the House of Lords, got to enjoy a whisky tasting with Diageo while Steve Barclay discussed cyber-security with former parliamentary chum Margot James. Elsewhere Jacob Rees-Mogg found time to meet with William Sitwell, theTelegraph’s restaurant critic, in a social capacity.
Good to see life in the self-proclaimed ‘people’s government’ continuing well as normal!
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