By Ben Kerrigan-
The Labour party has called for a standards investigation into a possible rule breach by Sir Geoffrey Cox – after a clip appeared to show him using his MP’s office to carry out private work for the British Virgin Islands inquiry.
Geoffrey Cox MP is accused of having spent April, May and June working a second job in the Caribbean using special Covid parliamentary procedures to vote from abroad.
According to The Times, the Conservative MP has been paid more than £1m in the past 12 months on legal work, including defending the British Virgin Islands in – of all things – a corruption case brought by the UK government.
A video emerged showing the former Attorney General participating in a hearing remotely from what looks like his parliamentary office. It is categorically against the code of conduct for MPs to do work for an outside interest while on the parliamentary estate.
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said he appeared to be in “brazen breach of the rules”.
Jeoffrey Cox MP appears to have spent April, May and June working a second job in the Caribbean using special Covid parliamentary procedures to vote from abroad.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said MPs should not use “anything that is funded by the taxpayer”, including their parliamentary offices, for outside work.
MPs are forbidden, under their code of conduct, from using any “public resources” to confer “personal or financial benefit on themselves or anyone else”.
Last month, Conservative Owen Paterson was found to have broken rules by lobbying the government on behalf of companies who were paying him – and for using his Commons office for business meetings, which is prohibited.
In the light of the Patterson scandal, extra questions have arisen about the extra work some MPs do on top of their parliamentary jobs.
Mps are mandated to declare any gifts and donations they receive alongside their income, failure of which constitutes a breach of the rules.
Sir Geoffrey, 61, the MP for Torridge and West Devon since 2005, has continued to practise as a barrister – earning almost £900,000 for this in the past year.
His work includes advising the British Virgin Islands government inquiry into alleged corruption.
Video footage from September is available online of Sir Geoffrey participating in a virtual hearing for the inquiry from what appears to be his Commons office.
At one point he gets up from his chair, returning to it around half an hour later. His absence occurred at about the same time as MPs, including Sir Geoffrey, were voting on the government’s health and social care funding reforms.
At a later point, he excuses himself for the rest of the hearing, saying: “Would you forgive me for not being present this afternoon? I’m afraid I have compelling other commitments…
“Forgive my absence during some of the morning. I’m afraid the bell went off.”
This appears to be a reference to the division bell, which rings when MPs are summoned to the Commons to vote.
Labour has suggested that, in apparently using his Commons office for outside work, Sir Geoffrey breached the parliamentary code of conduct, which states that MPs should ensure facilities paid for by the public purse “always support their parliamentary duties”.
It adds that the use of public resources should not “confer any undue personal or financial benefit on themselves”.
Rule Breach
Last month, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards Kathryn Stone found that Mr Paterson had breached these rules by holding meetings in his parliamentary office with companies who were paying him.
Labour has now asked Ms Stone to carry out an investigation into Sir Geoffrey.
Ms Rayner said: “A Conservative MP using a taxpayer funded office in Parliament to work for a tax haven facing allegations of corruption is a slap in the face and an insult to British taxpayers.
“The prime minister needs to explain why he has an MP in his parliamentary party that treats Parliament like a co-working space allowing him to get on with all of his other jobs instead of representing his constituents.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has earned more than £100,000 from legal work since he became an MP in 2015.
The Liberal Democrats’ chief whip Wendy Chamberlain urged Sir Geoffrey to “save everyone the time and trouble of an investigation” and “come clean now”.