67. Letter to the Commissioner from
Mr Ian Kirkbride, 11 March 2010
I write in response to your letter of 17th February.
[Comments which the witness asked not to be included
and which have not been taken into account in this inquiry]
In response to the particulars of your letter ...
Statements by my sister:
I generally concur with the statements my sister
has made and which you outline in your opening paragraphs.
Questions 1 & 2
I have never found it necessary to maintain a formal
diary. As such I am unable to give a figure for the number of
nights I have been at the constituency property, either when my
sister or her son were there, or on the occasions I might have
been there alone. Few of us are capable of remembering in detail
events which have been a routine part of life going back over
five years or more. As such any estimate would be a complete guess
with all the inaccuracies that would involve.
What I can relate is the normal pattern of my movements
over that period.
I would plan to be at the constituency property most
weekends (typically Friday to Sunday) when my sister and her son
were expected to be there. This was a standing arrangement. When
my sister and her son were planning to be there during parliamentary
recesses we would make arrangements, in so far as possible with
any other obligations I may have during the week, for me to be
there to cover childcare for my nephew.
I was also usually flexible enough to be able to
be in London as needed to look after my nephew if for example
his parents were going to be away and they wanted someone older
to support their au pair.
I would frequently drive my nephew up to the constituency home
after school on Friday so that my sister could go early and spend
more time on her parliamentary duties there.
I am self-employed and therefore had an irregular
work pattern taking me to London and all over the country. However,
I am very close to my family and care not only for my nephew but
also my elderly mother who lives in [name of town] in a property
of which I am a joint owner.
When my nephew and I were in the constituency property
my main purpose was to look after him and free up my sister for
her constituency duties.
On the occasions when I was alone in the property
I was there at the express wish of my sister to help her in the
performance of her parliamentary and constituency obligations.
I had offered to help her with any IT needs on a wholly voluntary
basis since my work was in IT, networking, lecturing and training.
I maintained my sister's website and she would often
leave photographs with me as she departed for London at the end
of the weekend so that I could update it. I also offered technical
support to her staff and if I was doing this on Monday morning
for example, it might make sense to stay the night before. I would
help her secretaries with any IT problems, computer glitches,
networking issues and the like. I made myself available on the
end of a phone for them. I would teach or help them with the electoral
roll database we maintained. I would teach or help them with various
software programs as needed.
For my own efficiency I would try as far as possible
to do any and all of this around the weekend when I needed to
be in Bromsgrove to look after my nephew.
Question 3
This issue goes back to the year 2001. I am self
employed. With questions raised over IR35 my accountant was encouraging
me to form a company. I was not convinced but reluctantly told
him to go ahead.
My accountant did all the paperwork and did not consult
me. At the time, I had given him the Bromsgrove postal address
for any time-sensitive contact as I was elsewhere working during
the week but knew that I was likely to be in Bromsgrove most weekends.
I have only been told in the last year that the form asks for
your usual residential address. Had I been aware of that I would
have been able to give a different address.
The company was registered in February 2001. It was
never used. I saw no reason to change my self employed status.
It remained a dormant company with my accountant filing the annual
paperwork. I don't believe I saw any paperwork again until my
accountant missed a filing deadline for dormant companies (he'd
forgotten about it too!) and there was a penalty. I immediately
closed the company. I applied to close in November 2004 and it
was finalised in April 2005. As my sister has said, HMRC accepted
it was a dormant company, never used, never had any employees
and never had any liability for tax.
I did no business in the Bromsgrove area and I did
not work out of the constituency property at any time. Setting
up the company was a mistake. Having it held against me would
compound that.
Question 4
I believe I have part answered this question in Q1
& Q2 above. There was no regular pattern of stay in London.
My sister had a series of au
pairs and an agreed work pattern. There
were times when my sister and her MP husband would be away from
home, or there was some school event when they felt it would be
appropriate for the au
pair to have some adult backup. There
were times when the au
pair went home for extended holiday periods
and times when the au
pair fell ill or had personal commitments.
Where I could fit it into my other commitments, I agreed to help.
Au pairs
tended to leave in early July and arrive in late September and
there was often a need for childcare for parts of that period
too.
Question 5
I have never been in the position of having to identify
a main home. I am a part owner of the property in [name of town]
where my mother lives, where I have my own bedroom, keep my clothes,
store my personal things and receive post. I have served on the
management committee of the building for some ten years, being
chairman for about six. I would consider this my main home although
my schedule means I spend a limited amount of my time there. As
a single person with no family of my own my work and lifestyle
for some thirty plus years has been one of planes, cars and hotels.
I have always been a very visible "Uncle
Ian" in Bromsgrove. Where possible
we have taken my nephew to many constituency events where I kept
an eye on him while my sister socialised. Many people have assumed
I was her husband. It does not surprise me that people also assumed
I lived there.
Question 6
Shortly after my nephew was born and while I was
helping out it was clear to me that my sister would have difficulty
when she was alone in the constituency with her child. Although
I was busy much of the working week I was generally free at weekends
and I offered to give her a guarantee of a babysitter in the constituency
at the weekend. [Comments which the witness asked not to be
included and which have not been taken into account in this inquiry]
It was therefore a standing arrangement. As time went
by, babysitter became child minder.
I had seen the difficulty of juggling nannies, of
changes of schedule, of nannies cancelling, of events running
over time, of getting nanny taxis and the headache that added
to organising a weekend in the constituency. An ad
hoc arrangement for childcare was exactly
what an MP did not want as it meant a constant distraction each
week as to the arrangements for the weekend. I took that burden
off my sister. My flexibility being single and our sibling relationship
removed most of those obstacles and it seemed to be an ideal and
eminently sensible arrangement.
The arrangement worked well and there was a mutual
desire for it to continue in parliamentary recesses but then it
had to work around my schedule. However the pace of work was more
relaxed in a recess and if I could not help then it was often
possible for my sister to take her son with her or easier to find
someone else to cover since it tended to be during daylight hours
only.
[Comments which the witness asked not to be included
and which have not been taken into account in this inquiry]
My sister, being married to another MP with constituency
obligations of his own, was effectively a single mother MP. She
could not have the customary support of her husband when she was
undertaking her parliamentary duties.
A single MP with a child needs a lot of quality support
and backup if she is to do a good job in her constituency. I was
that guaranteed reliable backup. The communication and understanding
between siblings beats that of any childminder. She could be sure
her son had the best of care. I lost count of the number of times
someone said to me "I
don't know what Julie would do without you".
Everyone has said she was an excellent constituency MP and I like
to think I played some part in that.
[Comments which the witness asked not to be included
and which have not been taken into account in this inquiry]
11 March 2010
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