7. Letter to Rt Hon Jack Straw MP
from the Commissioner, 11 November 2008
I would welcome your help with a complaint I have
received from Mr Ben Wallace in respect of an alleged failure
by you to register in the Register of Members' Interests a donation
you are reported to have received from Canatxx Energy Ventures
Ltd in respect of a dinner held in April 2004 in your constituency
celebrating the 25th anniversary of your election.
I attach a copy of Mr Wallace's letter of 5 November
to me together with its attachments.
In essence, the complaint in respect of registration
is that you should have registered a donation received from a
commercial company in support of the 25th anniversary
celebration dinner held in your constituency in April 2004 in
the Register of Members' Interests, and that you failed to do
so contrary to the rules of the House.
The Code of Conduct for Members provides in paragraph
16 as follows:
"Members shall fulfil conscientiously the
requirements of the House in respect of the registration of interests
in the Register of Members' Interests and shall always draw attention
to any relevant interest in any proceeding of the House or its
Committees, or in any communications with Ministers, Government
Departments or Executive Agencies."
The Guide to the Rules relating to the conduct of
Members gives rules and guidance in relation to the registration
of Members' interests which, as you know, fall into a number of
categories. Category 4 deals with sponsorship as follows:
"Sponsorships:
a. Any donation received by a Member's constituency
association which is linked either to candidacy at an election
or to membership of the House; and
b. any other form of financial or material
support as a Member of Parliament,
amounting to more than £1,000 from a single
source, whether as a single donation or as multiple donations
of more than £200 during the course of a calendar year."
Paragraphs 25 to 27 provide further guidance on the
interpretation of this category, including its relationship to
the following category, Category 5.
Category 5 provides:
"Gifts, benefits and hospitality (UK):
Any gift to the Member or the Member's spouse or partner, or any
material benefit, of a value greater than 1 per cent of the current
parliamentary salary from any company, organization or person
within the UK which in any way relates to membership of the House."
Paragraphs 28 to 34 give further guidance on the
interpretation of this category.
I understand that a member of your staff contacted
the Registrar's office in 2006 about this matter. I enclose copies
of the record made by this office at the time of the exchange.
I would welcome your comments on this complaint in
the light of the rules I have described in relation to the registration
of Members' interests. In particular, it would be helpful to know:
a) what were the circumstances which led to Canatxx
making a contribution to the celebratory dinner held in 2004;
b) what consideration you gave then or subsequently
to the registration of any such donation received from Canatxx
and what your conclusions were;
c) whether any financial contributions to this
event were made by any other individual, body or institution at
a level above the threshold provided in the Guide to the Rules;
d) whether you consider that any donations from
Canatxx or anyone else should have been registered by you in the
Register of Members' Interests.
Any other comments or help with my inquiries which
you may wish to make would, of course, be very welcome.
I enclose a note which sets out the procedure I follow.
I have written to Mr Wallace to let him know that I am accepting
his complaint in respect of the Register of Members' Interest,
but advising him to approach the Electoral Commission direct if
he wished to take further his allegations in respect of a potential
breach of the 2000 Act. If asked by the press, I will confirm
that I have received a complaint and am making inquiries.
It would be very helpful if you could let me have
your response within the next three weeks. If there is any difficulty
about this, or you would like to discuss any other matter arising
from this complaint, please contact me at the House.
Thank you for your help with this matter.
11 November 2008
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