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36. In an attempt to cut
through the initial lack of precision in The Guardian allegations,
Counsel to the inquiry wrote to The Guardian's solicitors
on 28 January 1997 setting out what we understood their allegations
to be.[14]
Since this formulation was not contested at the time, the allegations
were put in this form to the Members concerned.
37. Counsel's letter did
not include allegations against Mr Brown since these had
not yet been formulated in detail. They were, however, set out
in my letter to Mr Brown of 30 January.[15]
38. The allegations referred
to in the previous two paragraphs have been amended somewhat in
the light of subsequent evidence from The Guardian and
others; and the Members concerned have been given the opportunity
to respond to this later evidence during the course of the inquiry.
39. There were four main
categories of allegation:
(i) that cash
payments were made to Members for Parliamentary services provided
on behalf of Mr Al Fayed or House of Fraser; and that these cash
payments came either direct, or via Mr Greer, from Mr Al Fayed;
(ii) that
financial interests were persistently not registered in the Register
of Members' Interests; and that, in some cases, fees were disguised
as one-off commissions for the introduction of business to Ian
Greer Associates Ltd[16]
in order to make them less obviously registrable;
(iii) that
financial interests were not declared in relevant proceedings
of the House and in representations made to Ministers or contacts
with civil servants; also that they were not always declared for
tax purposes;
(iv) that
other actions were incompatible with the standards expected of
Members - for example, taking commissions to introduce constituents
to lobbyists or ongoing fees to represent constituents' interests;
and soliciting business on behalf of lobbyists in the hope of
receiving introduction fees.
40. The Members against
whom these allegations were made fell into three groups:
- a
"lobbying group", said to be engaged in concerted lobbying
on behalf of Mr Al Fayed, and largely organized by Mr Greer;
- other
Members associated with Mr Greer (but not with Mr Al Fayed) against
whom more than one allegation had been made;
- a
larger group, against whom no specific complaint had been made,
but who were criticised in the press for failing to register contributions
to election expenses from Mr Greer.
THE "LOBBYING
GROUP"
41. It has been claimed
that this "group" consisted of Mr Smith, Mr Hamilton,
Sir Michael Grylls, Sir Andrew Bowden, and Sir Peter Hordern.
Throughout the period covered by the allegations (with one brief
exception in the case of Mr Hamilton ), the first three
Members named were officers of the Conservative Party backbench
Trade and Industry Committee.
42. In summary, the main
allegations against these Members were:
a) Mr Smith,
Mr Hamilton, Sir Andrew Bowden, Sir Michael Grylls, Sir Peter
Hordern
- that
they engaged in concerted lobbying on behalf of Mr Al Fayed, orchestrated
by Mr Greer; and that all except Sir Peter Hordern (a paid
and registered consultant) were in receipt of improper payments
from Mr Al Fayed and/or Mr Greer in return for Parliamentary and
other services.
b) Mr Smith
- receipt
of cash payments from Mr Al Fayed and Mr Greer;
- failure
to register such payments;
- failure
to declare interests in correspondence and other dealings with
Ministers and officials.
c) Mr Hamilton
- receipt
of cash payments from Mr Al Fayed and Mr Greer;
- receipt
of benefits in kind from Mr Al Fayed and Mr Greer;
- failure
to register a variety of benefits, including cash payments, commission
payments, fees, hospitality and other benefits in kind;
- disguising
fees as commission payments in order to avoid registration;
- failure
to acknowledge a financial relationship with Mr Greer when questioned;
- failure
to declare interests in correspondence and other dealings with
Ministers and officials;
- failure
to account fully for potential tax liabilities;
- accepting
commissions for introducing constituents to lobbyists and fees
for representing constituents.
d) Sir Andrew
Bowden
- receipt
of a cash payment from Mr Al Fayed;
- demanding
a large annual fee to promote Mr Al Fayed's interests;
- failure
to register an election donation from Mr Greer;
- failure
to declare interests in correspondence and other dealings with
Ministers and officials.
e) Sir Michael
Grylls
- receipt
of cash payments from Mr Greer;
- failure
to register commissions;
- disguising
fees as commissions in order to avoid registration;
- failure
to declare interests in correspondence and other dealings with
Ministers and officials;
- accepting
commission payments for introducing constituents to lobbyists;
- soliciting
business for Mr Greer in the expectation of receiving commission.
f) Sir Peter
Hordern
- failure
to declare interests in correspondence and other dealings with
Ministers and officials;
- failure
to disclose knowledge of interests of other Members in dealings
with Ministers and officials;
- failure
to register hospitality from Mr Al Fayed;
- tabling
questions for cash (an allegation since withdrawn by The Guardian).[17]
OTHER MEMBERS
ASSOCIATED WITH MR GREER AGAINST WHOM MORE THAN ONE ALLEGATION
HAS BEEN MADE
43. The Members concerned
in this category are Mr Michael Brown, Mr Gerry Malone
and Lady Olga Maitland. In summary, the allegations against
these Members were:
a) Mr Brown
- failure
to register commission payments;
- disguising
fees as commission payments in order to avoid registration;
- failure
to declare interests in correspondence and other dealings with
Ministers and officials.
b) Mr Malone
- receiving
donations to election funds from Mr Greer in return for Parliamentary
services;
- failure
to register election donations from Mr Greer.
c) Lady Olga
Maitland
- failure
to register election donations and other payments from Mr Greer.
THE RECIPIENTS
OF ELECTION DONATIONS
44. The Members concerned
in this category are: Mr Robert Atkins, Mr Alan Beith, Mr Vivian
Bendall, Mr John Bowis, Sir Graham Bright, Mr Nirj Deva, Mrs Gwyneth
Dunwoody, Sir Anthony Durant, Mr Doug Hoyle, Mr Norman Lamont,
Mr David Mellor, Mr Michael Portillo, Mr David Shaw, Mr Chris
Smith, Sir Malcolm Thornton, Sir Gerard Vaughan and Sir John Wheeler.
45. This is part of a longer
list of recipients of election campaign donations from Mr Greer,
some of whom are no longer Members[18]
and are therefore beyond the scope of this inquiry. The complaint
against them was:
- failure
to register election campaign donations from Mr Greer.
Allegations
falling outside the Terms of Reference of the Inquiry
46. Some allegations contained
in the book Sleaze and pursued by The Guardian in
submissions to the inquiry related to the conduct of Members,
particularly Mr Hamilton, in their capacity as Ministers.
47. One of these allegations
in particular[19]
was that in 1993 Mr Hamilton, as Corporate Affairs Minister,
showed favouritism towards Mr Greer because of their previous
business relationship at a time when IGA was lobbying the DTI
on behalf of a group of accountancy firms known as the `Big Eight'.
The allegation was strongly denied by both Mr Hamilton
and Mr Greer.
48. The alleged misconduct
by Mr Hamilton concerns the propriety of his Ministerial
dealings with Mr Greer and the Big Eight. This allegation, and
the others of a similar nature contained in Sleaze or The
Guardian's submissions to the inquiry, are therefore outside
my terms of reference.
14 See
Appendix 26. Back
15 See
Appendix 60. Back
16 Referred
to in this report as IGA. Back
17 See
para 234. Back
18 ie.
during the 1992-97 Parliament. Back
19 Sleaze,
p 146. Back
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