SEVENTH REPORT
The Committee on Standards and Privileges has
agreed to the following Report:—
COMPLAINT AGAINST MR KEN LIVINGSTONE
1.We have considered a memorandum by the Parliamentary
Commissioner for Standards relating to the complaint by Mr J C
Jones of Shepshed, Leicestershire, against Mr Ken Livingstone,
Member for Brent East. The Commissioner's memorandum is appended
to this Report.
2. We agree with the Commissioner's report and with
her conclusions, which were—
(i) that Mr Livingstone
should have made a comprehensive entry in the Register to cover
all the services—speaking engagements as well as writing
and media work— he provides through his company Localaction
Ltd. His new Register entry shows that he uses the company to
contract campaigners and researchers;
(ii) that the Rules require Mr Livingstone to
register, in appropriate bands, the remuneration which he receives
through Localaction from each company to which he regularly provides
services, as a journalist, visiting speaker, &c., in his capacity
as a Member of Parliament; and that he should have done so for
The Independent, Prime Performers, Speakers for Business,
Interphiz, JLA, CSA, Diana Boulter, Norman Phillips and Right
Address;
(iii) that Mr Livingstone was also required to
deposit with the Commissioner employment agreements with those
employers from the point at which he began to provide those services
regularly; and
(iv) that Mr Livingstone should have made a separate
Register entry for his Evening Standard column.
3. Mr Livingstone sought the guidance of the then
Commissioner about his interest in Localaction in a letter dated
8 August 1996, in which he referred to earnings from Socialist
Economic Bulletin, radio and television appearances and articles
written for newspapers and magazines. He did not refer to speaking
engagements. The Commissioner, in his reply dated 2 September
1996, asked Mr Livingstone to confirm that his activities "under
the umbrella of Localaction do not involve regular paid commitments
arising from membership of the House, for which employment agreements
might be necessary". Mr Livingstone, in his response of 4
September 1996, said "My other activities are all one
off after dinner speeches, or articles for papers. Nothing
is on a regular basis ...".[13]
(Emphasis added.)
4. By 1998-99 Mr Livingstone was carrying out paid
speaking engagements for a number of clients on a significant
commercial scale. Many of these could be seen as amounting to
frequent, as opposed to merely occasional, commitments arising
from membership of the House. He was providing regular articles
for The Independent and the Evening Standard. As
the assurances he had given the Commissioner in 1996 no longer
held good, he should have put in a new entry as soon as necessary
identifying the clients for whom he was providing regular services
and indicating, in appropriate bands, the fees he was receiving.
He should also have deposited employment agreements.
5. Mr Livingstone has informed the Commissioner that
Localaction's income between June 1998 and February 2000 amounted
to £220,992, of which £158,599 was attributable to regular
commitments which ought to have been registered.[14]
Mr Livingstone's failure to make an appropriate entry in the Register
left the reader of the Register wholly unaware of the scale of
Mr Livingstone's earnings from these sources.
6. Mr Livingstone had to register regular commitments
of the kind he undertook. He should have sought and taken further
advice when his circumstances changed. Mr Livingstone knew he
had to register regular commitments, as his letter to the Commissioner
of 4 September 1996 indicates. It is surprising that, in view
of the sums he subsequently earned from regular activities which
could reasonably be thought to arise directly from his membership
of the House, Mr Livingstone did not consider that they were registrable.
7. Mr Livingstone's Register entry needs to include,
under Category 2 (Remunerated office, employment, profession,
etc.), the employers listed in paragraph 2(ii) above. He has to
deposit employment agreements where necessary.
8. Mr Livingstone has accepted the Commissioner's
advice about the separate registration of his sources of income
from regular speaking and regular articles and the deposit of
employment agreements. He has co-operated fully with the Commissioner
and the Committee throughout the inquiry. He is in the process
of depositing the employment agreements. He has rectified and
amended his entry in the Register, which currently reads as follows:
"LIVINGSTONE, Ken
(Brent East)
1. Remunerated directorships
Localaction Ltd. (Company formed to cover the
publication of Socialist Economic Bulletin and my other writing,
media work, speeches, lectures. Contracts researchers and campaigners
on my behalf.)
2. Remunerated employment, office, profession
etc
Column in The Independent (£15,001-£20,000)
Restaurant column in the Evening Standard.
Contract with Victor Gollancz for book publication.
Article for The Observer.
I carry out regular speaking engagements for the
following agencies:
Speakers for Business (£30,001-£35,000)
Prime Performers (£1,001-£5,000)
Interphiz (£5,001-£10,000)
Norman Phillips (£1,001-£5,000)
Right Address (£1,001-£5,000)
JLA (£10,001-£15,000)
CSA (£5,001-£10,000)
Diana Boulter (£10,001-£15,000)
3. Clients
Of the agencies listed above:
London Processing Centre
Card Connections
Miller Freeman UK
Heart of England Tec
GCI Focus
McCann Ericson
PSI Group
Institute of Directors
Ford Fleet Managers
Prime User Group
Centra Business Services
Staffs Chartered Accountants
Ernst & Young
Pagoda
Association of Surveyors
Comdisco Group
Stakis Brighton
Opus Holidays
Marquee
Price Waterhouse
Chase de Vere
West Coast Publishing
Garden Manufacturers
Motor Retailers
Erith Group
Oxford Union Economics Association (Hays Personnel)
Marcam Solutions User Group
Association of Public House Suppliers
Global Real Estate Institute
F4 Group Agency
Norwood Ravenswood Homes
OSI
Single speaking engagements for Localaction Ltd.:
Herts Chamber of Commerce
Bates Borland Agency
Parliamentary Communications Ltd
National Sporting Club
Creative Concepts Agency
Insolvency Lawyers
Placemakers Agency
Association of Project Managers
Student conferences
4. Sponsorship or financial or material support
Temporary research, administrative and legal
assistance provided by the Campaign for the Protection of Hunted
Animals, in connection with my Private Member's Bill.
6. Overseas visits
*23-25 January 1999, to Paris, accompanied by
my partner, to speak at a student seminar 'Your Future in Europe',
organised by European Study Tours of London, who paid for our
travel by Eurostar and two nights' accommodation. (Registered
4 March 1999)
9. Registrable shareholdings
9. Mr Livingstone breached the rules on registration
of interests and did not observe the principle of openness which
the Code of Conduct requires. In view of the scale of the payments
and the period of time over which they increased, we recommend
that Mr Livingstone should make an apology to the House by means
of a personal statement.
10. The Guide to the Rules as it relates to
the registration of fees received by Members from newspaper articles,
broadcasting appearances, speaking engagements, &c., should
be read together with the guidance for Members which is set out
below.
11. The advice which is given to Members at present
is that fees of £500 or less may be registered as "occasional
fees" for journalism, &c., as the case may be, in Category
2 (Remunerated office, employment, profession, etc.), unless the
Member wishes to register them individually. When fees of more
than £500 are received, either singly or cumulatively, from
a single source, the events giving rise to the payment should
be registered individually, and the source of the payment should
be specified. In the case of any fees which are paid to a company,
rather than directly to the Member, the person or organisation
paying the fee should be registered under Category 3 (Clients)
as a client of the company if not registered under Category 2.
12. The effect of the guidance given in the previous
paragraph is shown in the Table.
Table
Fee of £1-£500
paid to Member
| —registrable as remuneration under Category 2
—either source to be identified or registered as "occasional fees for [broadcasting and journalism]"
|
Fee of £1-£500
paid to Member's company
| —directorship registrable under Category 1 and shareholding under Category 9
— nature of the company's business to be registered
|
Fee of over £500
paid to Member
| —registrable as remuneration under Category 2
—event and source to be identified
|
Fee of over £500
paid to Member's company
| —directorship registrable under Category 1 and shareholding under Category 9
—nature of company's business to be registered
—source of payment to be registered as a client under Category 3
|
13. If any employment "involves the provision
of services in the capacity of a Member of Parliament", a
figure for remuneration (in bands) should also be given, and an
employment agreement should be deposited with the Commissioner.
14. A figure for remuneration and an employment agreement
are required in respect of regular commitments in the fields of
journalism, broadcasting, speaking or lecturing, unless the subject
of the Member's writing, &c., is wholly unrelated to parliamentary
or public affairs.[15]
13 Appendix 1, Annex B. Back
14 Appendix
1, paras. 9 and 10. Back
15 Paras.
35-6 of The Guide to the Rules. Back
|
