1. Article
in The Sunday Times, 29 August 2004
MP's firm charges £800 for tours of the House
of Commons
A SENIOR Tory MP is at the centre of a sleaze row
after it emerged that a company he co-owns is charging American
tourists $1,500 (more than £800) for guided tours of parliament
by him.
Jonathan Sayeed, a former front-bench spokesman,
has a 30% stake in the company, which boasts it can offer visitors
"behind the scenes" tours of the Commons by a "senior
member of the British parliament".
The company's website says some clients have attended
lunches and champagne receptions in parliament hosted by the MP.
The business is run by Alexandra Messervy, the main shareholder,
who is also employed by Sayeed as his constituency assistant.
This weekend Commons officials said the arrangement
appeared to breach the principle that MPs must never use the Palace
of Westminster for commercial gain. A senior parliamentary official
charged with maintaining standards in the Commons said: "If
proven, I think it would be quite wrong. It could be very embarrassing
for the member concerned and the relevant (watchdog) committee
would take it very seriously."
Ivan Henderson, a Labour MP, will write to Sir Philip
Mawer, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, this week,
to ask for an inquiry into Sayeed's business dealings. He said:
"This is outrageous. If the evidence I've seen is correct,
Sayeed appears to be using his position as an MP to bolster the
fortunes of a firm he has a direct financial interest in."
The firm, the English Manner, was set up two years
ago at a launch in Washington DC, attended by the MP for Mid Bedfordshire.
In the Commons register of interests, he has admitted four trips
to America where the company paid his expenses. He has also received
consultancy and lecture fees from the firm.
The English Manner offers wealthy Americans an expensive
slice of upmarket "olde England" in bespoke holiday
packages. They include stays at stately homes such as Belvoir
Castle in Leicestershire as guests of the Duke and Duchess of
Rutland. A former member of the royal household, Messervy also
offers private tours of Kensington Palace and trips around Buckingham
Palace.
Last week a reporter working for The Sunday Times
posed as a prospective US client seeking to tour parliament. Bambi
Duvall, the firm's American representative, was keen to point
out the identity of the company's man on the inside.
"We have a great contact. He is a member of
the parliament, Jonathan Sayeed. And if his schedule allows it,
then you can have lunch there, sometimes it's behind-the-scenes
tours," said Duvall.
She said that although $1,500 for a single day seemed
a little high, the kind of access she was offering never came
cheap: "You've got to know the people in order to make it
happen."
In another conversation, Duvall seemed embarrassed
at the $1,500 cost, saying: "Depending on how much time they
are spending with our clients, (it) depends on how big the docent's
(guide's) fee is. You know how the Brits are."
The company's website makes no mention of the fact
that Sayeed is a 30% shareholder in the business, although he
does declare his stake in the register of members' interests.
In the register, however, he makes no mention of his Commons tours.
In April 2003 the firm promoted a tour where clients
would attend a choral concert, marking the Queen's golden jubilee,
to be held in Westminster Hall. It was to be followed by a champagne
reception at the Commons with Sayeed, chairman of the Parliament
Choir.
The itinerary of a trip in June this year promised
clients: "Guests will be transported to the Palace of Westminster
for a private tour, champagne reception and farewell dinner with
senior members of parliament and the House of Lords."
His role for the company features in enthusiastic
accounts in the firm's literature. On the firm's website, one
client says: "Off to parliament and an evening with a House
of Commons MP! Jonathan Sayeed led us through both the House of
Commons and the House of Lords. We travelled through halls filled
with exquisite art and enough English history that we were ready
for a quiz!"
One US travel writer, recounting a tour around Westminster
with Sayeed arranged by Messervy, describes the MP as a "fastidiously
groomed ... superbly well mannered, self-assured Englishman".
He adds: "It isn't the information that is intriguing.
It is the access. The members' dining room overlooking
the Thames, where we have lunch, is so exclusive that it makes
me nervous."
Sayeed, 56, a keen yachtsman, was a Royal Navy officer
before he became an MP and has homes in Pimlico, central London,
and in the village of Houghton Conquest in his constituency, where
he was elected in 2001 with an 8,066 majority. He was identified
earlier this summer by senior Tories as one of the "bed-blocking"
older MPs holding back the progress of younger members of the
party.
A former member of the Queen's household, Messervy,
40, claims to have helped plan the wedding of the Duke and Duchess
of York. As Sayeed's constituency assistant, she is entitled to
a Commons pass giving her access to areas normally off limits
to the public.
Commons authorities have previously carried out at
least one extensive investigation into a peer suspected of conducting
tours for a fee. They also followed up allegations that paid tours
were being offered through websites. So far there has been insufficient
evidence to link financially any of the visits to a particular
member.
A spokesman for Sayeed said yesterday he advises
the company and assists with travel programmes, but is not always
involved when clients take tours around parliament. Despite repeated
attempts through the firm's American agent and Sayeed's office,
the MP and Messervy were unavailable for comment. Tory Central
Office also refused to comment.
The Sunday Times, 29 August 2004
