Tory MP facing suspension after openDemocracy reveals lobbying scandal

Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen is facing suspension after an investigation by openDemocracy revealed he lobbied ministers on behalf of a timber company that he worked for.

A cross-party committee of MPs today recommended that Bridgen, who represents the constituency of North West Leicestershire, should be suspended for five sitting days, for breaching rules on “registration, declaration and paid lobbying on multiple occasions and in multiple ways".

The standards committee said he had a “very cavalier attitude” to lobbying rules, and that he had separately made a “completely unacceptable attack” on the integrity of parliament’s independent standards commissioner while she was trying to investigate him.

It accused him of a “significant litany of errors” by failing to declare his interests in Mere Plantations in eight emails to ministers, and in five meetings with ministers or public officials.

When questioned by the parliamentary commissioner, Bridgen said: “To be honest, I never look at my register of interests. It’s probably of little interest to me.”

An investigation by openDemocracy two years ago found Bridgen had lobbied ministers for “appropriate tax treatment” on behalf of the firm – but did not declare that it had paid for him to visit its teak plantation in Ghana. 

The Times later reported that Bridgen had accepted a £5,000 donation from the same company via his constituency office, just months after he had lobbied the then minister for Africa in the foreign office to help with the company’s tax affairs.

In April 2020, Bridgen accepted a contract as an ‘adviser’ to Mere Plantations. He says he never took any money for the work, but the MPs’ register of interests from June 2020 reveals he would have been eligible to claim £12,000 a year had he chosen to, which means he should have declared it regardless. He updated the register in November 2021 to say that the role was unpaid, but the standards probe found that Bridgen had breached the Code of Conduct by making inaccurate entries.

Bridgen told the commissioner he was not subject to the lobbying rules because his trip to Ghana was of “negative financial benefit” to him due to the cost of vaccinations and unused local currency. The committee gave this short shrift, saying it was “irrelevant” whether Bridgen had incurred his own costs. 

MPs also told Bridgen to apologise to the standards commissioner, Kathryn Stone, for attempting to place “wholly inappropriate pressure” on her. 

During the inquiry, Bridgen – a critic of the disgraced former PM Boris Johnson – asked Stone about supposed rumours that she was about to accept a peerage: “I was distressed to hear on a number of occasions an unsubstantiated rumour that your contract as parliamentary standards commissioner is due to end in the coming months and that there are advanced plans to offer you a peerage, potentially as soon as the prime minister’s resignation honours list. There is also some suggestion amongst colleagues that those plans are dependent upon arriving at the ‘right’ outcomes when conducting parliamentary standards investigations.”

The committee said this appeared to be an attempt “improperly to influence the commissioner,” describing it as “completely unacceptable behaviour”.

Bridgen told HuffPost UK: “Whilst I am extremely disappointed with the recommendations of the committee, I accept them and will comply with them as required to do so.” He did not reply to openDemocracy’s requests for comment.

The House of Commons will vote on the sanctions.