Mr Jack Straw

House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges Mr Jack Straw

First Report of Session 2008–09

Report and Appendix, together with formal minutes

Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed 20 January 2009

HC 182 Published on 22 January 2009 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £0.00

The Committee on Standards and Privileges

The Committee on Standards and Privileges is appointed by the House of Commons to oversee the work of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards; to examine the arrangements proposed by the Commissioner for the compilation, maintenance and accessibility of the Register of Members’ Interests and any other registers of interest established by the House; to review from time to time the form and content of those registers; to consider any specific complaints made in relation to the registering or declaring of interests referred to it by the Commissioner; to consider any matter relating to the conduct of Members, including specific complaints in relation to alleged breaches in the Code of Conduct which have been drawn to the Committee’s attention by the Commissioner; and to recommend any modifications to the Code of Conduct as may from time to time appear to be necessary.

Current membership Rt Hon Sir George Young Bt MP (Conservative, North West Hampshire) (Chairman) Rt Hon Kevin Barron MP (Labour, Rother Valley) Rt Hon David Curry MP (Conservative, Skipton & Ripon) Mr Andrew Dismore MP (Labour, Hendon) Nick Harvey MP (Liberal Democrat, North Devon) Mr Elfyn Llwyd MP (Plaid Cymru, Meirionnydd Nant Conwy) Mr Chris Mullin MP (Labour, Sunderland South) The Hon Nicholas Soames MP (Conservative, Mid Sussex) Mr Paddy Tipping MP (Labour, Sherwood) Dr Alan Whitehead MP (Labour, Southampton Test)

Powers The constitution and powers of the Committee are set out in Standing Order No. 149. In particular, the Committee has power to order the attendance of any Member of Parliament before the committee and to require that specific documents or records in the possession of a Member relating to its inquiries, or to the inquiries of the Commissioner, be laid before the Committee. The Committee has power to refuse to allow its public proceedings to be broadcast. The Law Officers, if they are Members of Parliament, may attend and take part in the Committee’s proceedings, but may not vote.

Publications The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the Internet at: www.parliament.uk/sandp. A list of Reports of the Committee in the present Parliament is at the back of this volume.

Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Mr Steve Priestley (Clerk), Mrs Sarah Hartwell-Naguib (Second Clerk) and Ms Jane Cooper (Committee Assistant).

Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to The Clerk of the Committee on Standards and Privileges, Journal Office, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6615.

Mr Jack Straw 1

Contents

Report Page

Mr Jack Straw 3 Introduction 3 The Commissioner’s findings 3 Conclusion 4

Appendix 1: Memorandum from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards 5

Formal minutes 28

Mr Jack Straw 3

Mr Jack Straw

Introduction

1. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has submitted a memorandum to us, reporting on his investigation of a complaint made by Mr Ben Wallace, the Member for Lancaster and Wyre, against Mr Jack Straw, the Member for Blackburn. Mr Wallace complained that Mr Straw failed to register in the Register of Members’ Interests a donation from a company, Canatxx Energy Ventures Limited. The donation was in the form of sponsorship of a dinner held in 2004 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Mr Straw’s election to Parliament.

2. A copy of the Commissioner’s memorandum is attached at Appendix 1. In accordance with our usual practice, we have shown the memorandum to Mr Straw. Mr Straw has informed us that he does not wish to add to what he has already told the Commissioner.

The Commissioner’s findings

3. The Commissioner has concluded that Canatxx sponsored the dinner held for Mr Straw by donating the sum of £3,000, which was paid into Mr Straw’s constituency office account.1 Mr Straw should have registered this donation in the Register of Members’ Interests, but he has admitted that he did not give proper consideration to doing so at the time.2 The Commissioner notes that, following correspondence with Mr Wallace, Mr Straw concluded in October 2006 that he should register the donation.3 This was when Mr Straw was Leader of the House of Commons.

4. Unfortunately, Mr Straw’s intention to register the donation in 2006 was not acted upon, and when Mr Straw was sent a copy of his Register entry in early 2007, he failed to notice that the donation had still not been registered.4 Mr Straw eventually registered the donation in December 2008, following the formal complaint made to the Commissioner by Mr Wallace. The Commissioner concludes:

Mr Straw recognises that this donation should have been registered. He has apologised that the registration was not made within the required timescale. He takes full responsibility, but considers that the mistakes were made entirely in good faith.5

5. The Commissioner finds that there has been a clear breach of the Rules of the House, in that Mr Straw unintentionally overlooked his obligation to register a donation in the

1 Appendix 1, para 42 2 Appendix 1, para 25 and WE 13 3 Appendix 1, para 46 4 Appendix 1, para 47 5 Appendix 1, para 49

4 Mr Jack Straw

Register of Members’ Interests.6 As the Commissioner states in his memorandum, it is not unusual in such cases for the matter to be resolved without a report being made to the Committee. In this case, however, Mr Straw’s omission in 2006 to rectify his earlier failure to register the donation he received in 2004 was a matter that the Commissioner felt should be reported to the Committee.7

Conclusion

6. We support the Commissioner’s decision to submit a memorandum to us on this case and we agree with his findings and conclusions. Mr Straw’s failure to register a donation made to him in 2004 was a clear, albeit inadvertent, breach of the Rules of the House. It is indeed unfortunate that Mr Straw (a) failed to register the donation when it was received in 2004, (b) failed to register the donation when it was drawn to his attention in 2006 and (c) failed to notice that the donation did not appear in his Register entry when this was sent to him in early 2007. Mr Straw has called this a chapter of accidents.8 Accidents generally happen as a result of negligence, and Mr Straw has clearly been negligent in this case.

7. We are surprised and disappointed that, of all Members, Mr Straw should have broken the Rules. Mr Straw is an experienced Member—indeed, the incident that led to the complaint was a celebration of his 25 years in the House. As Home Secretary, Mr Straw put the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2001 on the Statute Book. As Justice Secretary, he is piloting the current Political Parties and Elections Bill through the House. Both have as their theme the need for transparency in political donations. Pressure of work may explain why Mr Straw overlooked his responsibilities, but the nature of his job should also have been a constant reminder to him of the need to observe the Code.

8. Notwithstanding the above, Mr Straw has apologised unreservedly and he has rectified his omission. For these reasons, we do not recommend any further action by the House. This case should, however, serve as a reminder to all Members—and particularly to Ministers and to front-benchers—of the need to ensure that their Register entries are kept up-to-date at all times.

6 Appendix 1, para 51 7 Appendix 1, para 50 8 Appendix 1, para 53

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Appendix 1: Memorandum from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards

Contents Page

Complaint against Rt Hon Jack Straw MP 6 Introduction 6 The Complaint 6 Relevant Rules of the House 7 My Inquiries 8 Findings of Fact 13 Conclusions 15

Written evidence received by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards 16 1. Letter to the Commissioner from Mr Ben Wallace MP, 5 November 2008 16 2. Written Answer, 18 April 2006 17 3. Letter to Mr Ben Wallace MP from Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, 22 September 2006 17 4. Letter to Mr Ben Wallace MP from the constituency secretary to Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, 21 September 2006 17 5. Personal Statement by Lord Taylor of Blackburn, 29 October 2008 18 6. Letter to the Commissioner from Mr Ben Wallace MP, 11 November 2008 18 7. Letter to Rt Hon Jack Straw MP from the Commissioner, 11 November 2008 19 8. File Note by the Executive Assistant in the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, 3 October 2006 20 9. E-mail to the Commissioner from the Executive Assistant in the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, 3 October 2006 20 10. Letter to the Commissioner from Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, 11 November 2008 21 11. Letter to Mr Ben Wallace MP from the Commissioner, 17 November 2008 22 12. Letter to the Commissioner from Mr Ben Wallace MP, 19 November 2008 22 13. Letter to the Commissioner from Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, 21 November 2008 23 14. Letter to Rt Hon Jack Straw MP from Mr Ben Wallace MP, 28 September 2006 24 15. Letter to the Commissioner from Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, 26 November 2008 25 16. Letter to Rt Hon Jack Straw MP from the Commissioner, 26 November 2008 25 17. Entry for Rt Hon Jack Straw MP in the Register of Members’ Interests, 30 January 2007 26 18. Letter to the Commissioner from Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, 3 December 2008 26

6 Mr Jack Straw

Complaint against Rt Hon Jack Straw MP

Introduction

1. This memorandum reports on a complaint that the Rt Hon Jack Straw, the Member for Blackburn, failed to register in the Register of Members’ Interests a donation received from a commercial company in support of a dinner held in his constituency in April 2004 to mark the 25th anniversary of his election as a Member of Parliament.

The Complaint

2. I received a letter dated 5 November 2008 from Mr Ben Wallace, the Member for Lancaster and Wyre, asking me to investigate whether there had been a breach by Mr Straw of the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament in respect of the registration and declaration of his interests, and a breach of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.1 In his letter, Mr Wallace said that in 2004 a planning application for the storage of natural gas beneath the Wyre Estuary had been made to Lancashire County Council. The applicant was a United States based company called Canatxx. He was surprised when he was informed by members of the local Labour party that this company had sponsored a dinner in 2004 celebrating the 25th anniversary of Mr Straw’s election as the Member for Blackburn. He had tried to ascertain at the time whether this was the case and he had searched the Register of Members’ Interests. No entry was found. He attempted through Parliamentary Questions to establish to what extent the sponsorship had taken place and in April 2006 he received an answer that confirmed this. He then attempted to seek further details by letter, and received a response five months later revealing “a few more details”.

3. Since that time Mr Wallace said that he had established that the dinner was for over 100 people and that it took place on 25 April 2004.2 Neither Mr Straw nor the constituency Labour party had declared the sponsorship. He told me that his concern to investigate this matter was motivated by what he believed to be the fact that there was no connection between the company and the town of Blackburn. He was not clear why the company should have chosen to sponsor a member of the Government. The company were now planning to submit an amended application. Mr Wallace made in his letter a series of further statements in respect of the company which Mr Wallace believed raised questions about the permissibility of the donation under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000.

4. Mr Wallace attached to his letter a copy of a Written Answer from Mr Straw of 18 April 2006.3 In answer to his Question about whether Mr Straw had received official hospitality from the company in the last four years, Mr Straw had replied “No”. But in his reply, Mr

1 WE 1 2 Mr Straw’s evidence is that the dinner took place on 24 April 2004 [WE10] 3 WE 2

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Straw had noted that Mr Wallace might wish to be aware that the company was one of the sponsors of a dinner in April 2004 to mark his (then) 25 years as the Member for Blackburn. Annex 2 of Mr Wallace’s letter included a letter of 22 September 2006 to Mr Wallace from Mr Straw and a letter of the previous day from Mr Straw’s constituency secretary to Mr Wallace providing information about Members of Parliament, Peers and government officials who had attended the anniversary dinner.4 Annex 3 (which I have not included in the schedule of evidence) contained menus and details of the location of the dinner. Annex 4 (which I have also not included) contained an extract from the Electoral Commission’s Register about donations received by the Blackburn constituency Labour party. Annex 5 included an extract from the House of Lords Official Report of a Personal Statement by Lord Taylor of Blackburn.5 And Annex 6 (which I have not included) contained extracts from the Companies House Register about the company in question.

5. Mr Wallace wrote to me again on 11 November to submit some further information and background which he said had been recently uncovered.6 He said that it had emerged that the donation from the company was for £3,000. It was not a civic event. Cheques for the event were made out to the Blackburn constituency Labour party and paid into the bank account of the local Labour party. The Chief Executive of the donating company had attended the event. He noted that the Treasurer of the Blackburn Labour party in 2004 had stated that anybody who bought more than eight tickets counted as a donor to the party. In Mr Wallace’s view, therefore, it was clear that the Labour party officers were under the impression that this was a Labour party event, as would be ticket-holders, given who they had to make the cheques out to. He said it was worrying that Mr Straw had said that he had no connection with the company before the dinner or since, since Lord Taylor of Blackburn, who had given a donation for the event, was then, as now, a paid adviser to the company and Mr Straw was associated with him.

Relevant Rules of the House

6. The Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament 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.”

7. The Guide to the Rules relating to the conduct of Members gives rules and guidance in relation to the registration of Members’ interests. The requirements for registration fall into a number of categories. Category 4 deals with sponsorship as follows:

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8 Mr Jack Straw

“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.”

8. Paragraphs 25 to 27 provide further guidance on the interpretation of this category, including its relationship to the following category, Category 5.

9. 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.”

10. Paragraphs 28 to 34 give further guidance on the interpretation of this category.

My Inquiries

11. Having considered the complainant’s initial letter of 5 November, I decided that there was sufficient evidence to merit me making inquiries of Mr Straw about the matter.

12. I wrote to Mr Wallace on 10 November to let him know that I had accepted his complaint in respect of whether Mr Straw should have registered the donation he received in the Register of Members’ Interests. I noted that he had suggested that Mr Straw may have been in breach of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. I said that this was not a matter which came within my remit. If he wished to take this further he would need to approach direct the Electoral Commission.

13. I wrote to Mr Straw on 11 November.7 Having summarised the rules of the House, I invited him to let me know the circumstances which led to the company making a contribution to his celebratory dinner; what consideration he gave then or subsequently to the registration of any such donation; 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; and whether he considered that any donations from the company or anyone else should have been registered by him in the Register of Members’ Interests.

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Mr Jack Straw 9

14. I also informed Mr Straw that a member of his staff had contacted the Registrar’s office in 2006 about the matter. I enclosed with my letter a file note by the Executive Assistant in the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards dated 3 October 2006 noting that Mr Wallace had asked Mr Straw for information about the reception held in Mr Straw’s constituency in April 2004 to mark his 25 years as a Member of Parliament.8 The note records that a senior official in the office of the Leader of the House (Mr Straw’s office at the time) had telephoned to report that the reception was not registered and to ask whether it should have been. I also enclosed an e-mail of 3 October 2006 from the Executive Assistant to my predecessor informing him that she had taken this call from a senior official in Mr Straw’s office.9 She had discussed it with the Registrar and had advised the senior official that, if asked at the time, the Registrar would have advised registration by Mr Straw. The Executive Assistant noted that the senior official “will probably advise Mr Straw to register now and write an apology to Mr Wallace, who he believes will make a complaint”.

15. I received on 12 November a letter written by Mr Straw the previous day, 11 November, which he said had been generated by press inquiries the previous weekend.10 The letter was clearly written before he had received my letter to him of 11 November.

16. Mr Straw said that the event in question was a dinner held on 24 April 2004 at Blackburn Rovers Football Club to mark the 25th anniversary of his election as a Member of Parliament. It was organised by the Blackburn Labour party and by his constituency office. It was not a fundraising event, indeed it made a loss which he met from his own pocket. People of all political persuasions and none attended, including representatives of the police, the NHS and the local newspaper.

17. Mr Straw said that he had previously stated to Parliament in a Written Answer in 2006, that a private company had agreed to sponsor the event. He understood from a report in a regional newspaper on 11 November 2008 that Lord Taylor of Blackburn had said that he had invited the company to make a contribution to the event. It contributed £3,000 in sponsorship. The money was used in full to meet some of the costs of the dinner. This money was paid in April 2004 not into the Blackburn Labour party account, as was the ticket money for the event, but into a petty cash account used by Mr Straw’s constituency office. Because the cheque was not paid into the Blackburn Labour party account, the then Treasurer was unaware of it, and the person who paid it into the constituency office account was unaware that it was likely to have to be declared.

18. Mr Straw said that he was now advised that the contribution from the company “should almost certainly have been registered with the Electoral Commission and the Parliamentary Register of Members’ Interests”. This was a regrettable oversight, but the error in not doing so was made entirely in good faith.

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10 Mr Jack Straw

19. In conclusion, Mr Straw said that Mr Wallace had questioned whether there was any link between the company’s involvement in the event and its application for a gas storage facility at a site “some 30 miles from my constituency”. Mr Straw said that this suggestion was “completely unfounded. I have never been involved in Canatxx’s business or any planning application made by them—not before the dinner in 2004, during it or since.”

20. I wrote to Mr Straw on 13 November noting that his letter had crossed with mine of the same date and asking for his help on the remaining matters which he had not covered in his letter of 11 November.

21. I wrote also to Mr Wallace on 17 November.11 I asked if he could confirm that he had no further information which he considered relevant to his complaint. I asked him also if he could confirm my understanding that he had been aware of this matter since 2006 and if he could let me know why he had not made a complaint about it to the Commissioner at that time.

22. Mr Wallace replied on 19 November.12 He said that he did not consider my question to have any material relevance as to whether a Member broke Parliamentary rules: “While a motive behind a complaint may be of passing interest to those who seek political excuse it should not be reason to escape justice or in this case the upholding of a complaint”. In answer to my questions, Mr Wallace said that he asked a Parliamentary Question of Mr Straw and wrote a letter asking for details. Mr Straw had responded to the Parliamentary Question informing him only that the company had sponsored the dinner. No location, exact date or cost was intimated. He had sent a letter of 26 April 2006 asking for further details, which was answered five months later detailing the MPs who attended. He made the complaint now because it took “considerable time to track down further evidence as to the scale of contribution to the Member for Blackburn”. He had had to embark on a “proper investigation”. In addition, the company had started to meet with government and politicians in December 2007 in order to begin the process of submitting a fresh application to the County Council. In the previous month “a paid adviser to Canatxx, Lord Taylor of Blackburn, was forced to apologise to the House of Lords for failing to declare his interest”. These two recent actions had accelerated him to seek full transparency of the company’s past behaviour “so that his constituents and he could be assured that nothing untoward could happen this time”.

23. Mr Straw responded on 21 November to my letter of 11 November.13

24. Mr Straw said that the approach to the company and their attendance at the dinner was made by Lord Taylor of Blackburn, who was a long-standing friend. Lord Taylor had been a contributor to Blackburn Labour party’s election expenses in respect of Mr Straw’s Parliamentary candidature. Lord Taylor was an adviser to the company. Mr Straw had played no part in the approach to the company.

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25. Mr Straw accepted that he should have given the matter of registration of the donation “proper consideration” at the time it was made. But because of his workload and because of the nature of the event “which was neither fundraising nor partisan”, he did not do so. What he did not know at the time, nor did the Treasurer of the Blackburn Labour party, was that the cheque from the company was paid by his then personal assistant into the account which she ran in respect of constituency office expenses. As a result, the Treasurer was never aware of the donation. Mr Straw said that had the Treasurer been aware, he would have registered the donation with the Electoral Commission and almost certainly would have alerted Mr Straw to the need to make a registration as well.

26. In April 2006, in answer to Mr Wallace’s Parliamentary Question, Mr Straw said that he thought that for the sake of completeness he should make clear to Mr Wallace that the company had been a sponsor of the celebratory dinner and “duly did so”. It had therefore been on the public record of Parliament since then, albeit not on the Register.

27. Mr Straw said that his constituency office received in September 2006 a letter dated 20 April 2006 from Mr Wallace. The letter had evidently got mislaid in Mr Straw’s move from the Foreign Office in early May 2006. Both his Blackburn office and Mr Straw himself replied to Mr Wallace on 21 and 22 September in similar terms.14 The letters identified those Members of Parliament, Peers and government officials (Mr Straw’s then Special Adviser) who, to the best of Mr Straw’s knowledge, attended the event. Mr Straw’s letter made clear that neither the then Deputy Prime Minister nor any of his Ministers were there.

28. Mr Straw said that he had asked a senior official in the Commons Leader’s office to find out from my office whether the donation should have been registered, or submitted for late registration. At this distance, his recollection, and that of his senior official, was a little hazy. But they were both clear that in the light of the advice from my office, Mr Straw had said that he should make a late registration. Mr Straw said that he believed he had asked the official to send a letter or e-mail to that effect to the Registrar. Neither of them could shed any light on why that had not happened. Mr Wallace had sent “a rather fulsome acknowledgement” on 28 September 200615 and Mr Straw thought no more of the matter until 7 November 2008 when his office was contacted by the Sunday Times.

29. Mr Straw said that to the best of his knowledge and belief no other 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.

30. Mr Straw said that as this was a donation “linked to membership of the House” he recognised that it should have been registered. He was “very sorry that this did not happen”. He asked to make a late registration under the rectification procedure.

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31. Mr Straw hoped that it would be accepted that the mistake in not registering the donation arose in good faith. The fact that he disclosed the sponsorship quite voluntarily in answer to Mr Wallace’s Parliamentary Question of April 2006 was in his view a clear indication that “at no stage did I have any intention whatsoever of concealing this donation or acting in a manner outwith the requirements of the House”.

32. Mr Straw said that he would like to state “for the record” that beyond the sponsorship the company provided for his anniversary event, he had never had any dealings with them on any matter whatsoever, not before the dinner, during it or subsequently.

33. In summary, Mr Straw concluded that he believed the circumstances could be described as “a chapter of accidents”. Because the event was being organised as a town event and was far from being a partisan political event, “we were not instinctively as alert as we should have been to the registration requirements”. There were complications in organising the event because of the time taken off through sickness of his then personal assistant in his constituency office.

34. Mr Straw added that throughout his long parliamentary and Ministerial career he had sought to observe the highest standards, and specifically always to register any benefit which could “remotely come within the regulations”. He said: “It is a matter therefore of deep regret to me that for the reasons stated this did not happen, for which I of course take full responsibility; but the mistakes were made entirely in good faith.”

35. Mr Straw wrote to me again on 26 November16 responding to Mr Wallace’s further letter to me of 11 November.17 He said he had been very clear in accepting that the company’s sponsorship of the dinner in April 2004 should have been declared on the Register. Other than that company’s sponsorship, no sums received for tickets to the event exceeded the threshold for declaration set by the Electoral Commission or the threshold for registration as sponsorship in the Register of Members’ Interests. He did not dispute that the majority of the cheques for the event were paid into the Blackburn Labour party account or that the Labour party arranged the event. He had said so in his earlier correspondence. However, the nature of the event was entirely non-political. All the money received for tickets and other sponsorship was used to meet the costs of the event.

36. Mr Straw noted that Mr Wallace had said that Lord Taylor had made donations to him. Any donations from Lord Taylor had been registered with the Register of Members’ Interests and the Electoral Commission.

37. Mr Straw said that he had no doubt that the Chief Executive of the donating company had attended the event, although he had no recollection of speaking to him. As he had said previously, he had never had any involvement in the company’s business.

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38. Finally, Mr Straw noted that Mr Wallace had concluded by saying that there was a contradiction between his statement that he had no connection with the company before the dinner or since, and his association with Lord Taylor. Mr Straw said there was no contradiction: Lord Taylor was a long-standing friend and colleague, but Mr Straw had never had any dealing with the company’s business.

39. Having reviewed the evidence I had received, I wrote to Mr Straw on 26 November asking for his help on two final points.18 I asked him to confirm my understanding that he was aware of the company’s donation of £3,000 to the dinner at or near the time it was made in April 2004. And I asked whether he could recall checking his full Register entry which the Registrar had sent him following a new entry he made on 30 January 2007 and which did not include any reference to the donation for his 2004 dinner. I enclosed a copy of that entry.19

40. Mr Straw replied with his letter of 3 December.20 He confirmed that he was aware of the donation at or near the time it was made in April 2004. On the question of the Register entry sent to him in early 2007, Mr Straw explained that “the donation, as it were, slipped off my radar very quickly” after the April 2004 event until he received the Parliamentary Question from Mr Wallace in April 2006, when he put the fact of the donation in the Parliamentary record, albeit not on the Register. It “reappeared on my radar again in September 2006” and he had set out those circumstances in his letter to me.21 Mr Straw added: “But I am afraid that the matter then went out of my mind altogether until the recent complaint from Mr Wallace”. Although he had no specific recollection of it, he was sure he had received the full Register entry on 30 January 2007. He assumed that he had given it a quick check to ensure that it did include the items he had asked to be registered, but since the matter of the company’s donation “had slipped out of my mind, it did not jog my memory at that stage”.

41. Following discussion with the Registrar of Members’ Interests, Mr Straw registered in the Register of Members’ Interests on 9 December 2008 under Category 5 (Gifts, benefits and hospitality (UK)) the donation he had received from the company in the following terms:

“In April 2004 I received a donation from Canatxx as a contribution to the costs of a dinner held in my constituency to celebrate my 25 years as Member of Parliament for Blackburn. (Registered 9 December 2008)”.

Findings of Fact

42. The Blackburn Labour party and Mr Straw’s Blackburn constituency office organised a dinner which was held on 24 April 2004 in Blackburn to mark the 25th anniversary of Mr

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Straw’s election as the Member of Parliament for Blackburn. As a result of an approach made to a private company, Canatxx Energy Ventures Limited, by a friend of Mr Straw’s and an adviser to that company, Lord Taylor of Blackburn, the company made a donation of £3,000 towards the cost of the event. Mr Straw was aware of the donation at the time it was made in April 2004, but did not consider whether he should register it in the Register of Members’ Interests. The donation was paid by Mr Straw’s then personal assistant into the account which she ran in respect of constituency office expenses. Other cheques written out by some of those attending the dinner were paid into the Blackburn Labour party account, which account was overseen by the Treasurer of the Blackburn Labour party. The dinner made an overall loss, which Mr Straw met from his own resources.

43. Mr Straw referred to the company’s sponsorship of his celebratory dinner in response to a Parliamentary Question from Mr Ben Wallace on 18 April 2006. He stated: “The hon. Member might however wish to be aware that Canatxx was one of the sponsors of a dinner in April 2004 to mark my (then) 25 years as Member for Blackburn”.

44. Mr Straw wrote on 22 September 2006 to Mr Wallace to give him the names of the Members of Parliament, Peers and government official (in the form of his then Special Adviser) who to the best of his knowledge, attended the event. A similar letter was sent to Mr Wallace by Mr Straw’s constituency secretary. Mr Straw’s letter noted that neither the then Deputy Prime Minister nor any of his Ministers attended the event. Mr Wallace acknowledged Mr Straw’s letter on 28 September thanking him for his “detailed response”.

45. In October 2006, the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards received an inquiry from a senior official in the office of the Leader of the House, which was Mr Straw’s office at the time, asking whether he should have registered in the Register of Members’ Interests the benefit which had been received from the company in sponsoring the event in April 2004. The official was told that if asked at the time, the Registrar would have advised registration. The official in my office who dealt with the inquiry in October 2006, noted that she thought that the senior official in Mr Straw’s office would probably advise Mr Straw to register at that stage and write an apology to Mr Wallace, whom he believed would make a complaint.

46. Mr Straw’s evidence is that he had discussed my office’s advice with his senior official and they both believed that Mr Straw had said that he (Mr Straw) should make a late registration. Mr Straw believed he had asked the official to send a letter or e-mail to that effect to the Registrar. No such letter or email was sent.

47. Mr Straw did not notice the absence of the registration of this donation from the full Register entry which was sent to him in early 2007.

48. Mr Straw registered the donation in the Register of Members’ Interests under Category 5 (Gifts, benefits and hospitality (UK)) on 9 December 2008.

49. Mr Straw’s evidence is that, to the best of his knowledge and belief, no other 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. Mr Straw recognises that this donation should have been registered. He has apologised that the registration was not

Mr Jack Straw 15

made within the required timescale. He takes full responsibility, but considers that the mistakes were made entirely in good faith.

Conclusions

50. I consider this is a clear case of a Member unintentionally overlooking his obligation to register a donation in the Register of Members’ Interests. Mr Straw has now registered the donation in the Register under Category 5 as a gift or benefit. The sum involved is one donation of £3000. In many cases where the Member agrees that he or she has failed to register an interest, and that interest is minor or the failure was inadvertent, I resolve the complaint through the rectification procedure. In such cases the relevant entry in the Register is shown in heavy type to indicate that it was made late, and I do not submit a memorandum to the Committee. In this case however I have submitted a memorandum because the Committee may wish to note that Mr Straw had the need to register the 2004 donation drawn to his attention in 2006.

51. I conclude that Mr Straw should have registered in the Register of Members’ Interests, within four weeks of it being made, the donation of £3,000 he received from Canatxx in support of his 25th anniversary dinner in Blackburn on 24 April 2004. It was a clear breach of the rules that he did not do so.

52. In coming to my conclusion on this complaint, I accept the evidence which Mr Straw has provided. Mr Straw has readily accepted and explained the mistakes which were made. The donation was put into a constituency office expenses account in April 2004. Other donations (which were below the registration threshold) were put into the Blackburn Labour party account. It was unfortunate that Canatxx’s donation was not put into the party account since the Treasurer might well have drawn the need for registration to Mr Straw’s attention. It was also unfortunate that Mr Straw did not himself consider its registration as soon as he was aware of the donation in April 2004. It was equally unfortunate that no action was taken on his decision to make a late registration in October 2006 and that he failed to spot its absence from the copy of his full register entry which was sent to him by my office in early 2007.

53. Mr Straw has described this as “a chapter of accidents”. I agree. I accept that these mistakes were neither intended nor were they made in bad faith. Mr Straw has taken full responsibility for the breach and has apologised. He has now registered the donation in the Register of Members’ Interests. The Committee will wish to take Mr Straw’s response into account in considering this matter.

13 January 2009 John Lyon CB

16 Mr Jack Straw

Written evidence received by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards

1. Letter to the Commissioner from Mr Ben Wallace MP, 5 November 2008

I am writing to ask you investigate whether there has been a breach of the Code of Conduct for Members of Parliament, under section 6 (registration and declaration of interests) and a breach of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act 2000 (Part 4 Section 54 and/or 61), by the Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Member of Parliament for Blackburn.

The background to the complaint is as follows:

In 2004 a planning application for the storage of two million tonnes of natural gas beneath the Wyre Estuary in Lancashire was laid before Lancashire County Council. This was a controversial proposition that affected thousands of my constituents and raised concerns about health and safety as well as environmental protection. The applicant was a US based company called Canatxx with no previous ties to Lancashire.

Imagine my surprise when I was informed by members of the local Labour Party that this company had sponsored a dinner in 2004 celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Rt Hon Jack Straw MP’s election as the Member for Blackburn. I tried to ascertain at the time whether this was the case and searched the register of Members’ Interests. No entry was found. I attempted through Parliamentary Questions to establish to what extent the sponsorship had taken place and in April 2006 I received an answer that confirmed this [WE 2]. I then attempted to seek further details by letter and received a response five months later revealing a few more details [WE 3 and WE 4].

Since that time I have established that the dinner was for over a hundred people and was hosted in the Premier Suite of Blackburn Rovers and that the catering was done by Northcote. I am unsure of the exact catering arrangements but the dinner took place on 25 April 2004 (see attached documentation (Annex 3) [not reproduced here]). Neither the Member nor Blackburn constituency Labour Party have declared the sponsorship (Annex 4) [not reproduced here]. My concern to investigate this matter was motivated by the fact that there was no connection between Canatxx and the town of Blackburn and that given the sensitivity of the planning application why they should choose to sponsor a member of the Government. They are now planning to resubmit an amended application in December.

The company has a poor reputation in how it conducts its affairs and has been involved in evicting vulnerable tenants and aggressive tactics. Most recently their paid adviser in the Lords, Lord Taylor of Blackburn, was forced to apologise after failing to declare a relevant interest to the House of Lords. [WE 5]. Worryingly I have recently established the ownership credentials of Canatxx which clearly indicate that it is a foreign owned company with almost solely foreign shareholders. Their UK operation is merely a front while the addresses supplied in Company House documentation are false and misleading [not reproduced here]. This new discovery raises questions over the legitimacy of the sponsorship of the Rt Hon Jack Straw MP's celebration under Part Four of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act in that it is not a permissible donation.

Canatxx’s application has caused tremendous upset to a number of my constituents and I am deeply concerned that as a new application is submitted the company’s political links could cause further distress. I would be grateful if you could investigate and set mine and my constituents’ minds at rest. I have copied this letter, out of courtesy, to the Member involved.

5 November 2008

Mr Jack Straw 17

2. Written Answer, 18 April 2006 FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS Canatxx Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has received official hospitality from Canatxx Ventures Limited, Canatxx UK and its associated companies in the last four years. [61328]

Mr. Straw [holding answer 27 March 2006] : No. The hon. Member might however wish to be aware that Canatxx was one of the sponsors of a dinner in April 2004 to mark my (then) 25 years as Member for Blackburn. My Department was not involved in any way in this event.

HC Deb 18 April 2006, Col 71W

3. Letter to Mr Ben Wallace MP from Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, 22 September 2006

I am now able to reply to your letter originally written on 20th April 2006. I am really sorry for the delay. I never saw your original letter, and we think it must have got lost somewhere in the system as I was moving Ministerial positions. It has also taken a little time to assemble the information you wanted, but here it is. My office has checked very carefully and we think it’s complete but we cannot absolutely guarantee that two and a half years after the event. But just to reassure you neither the Deputy Prime Minister nor any of his Ministers attended.

Jack Straw 25th Anniversary Dinner

Spring 2004

MPs present: George Howarth MP Colin Pickthall MP Gerald Kaufman MP Helen Southworth MP David Borrow MP Hilton Dawson MP John Hutton MP

Peers present: Lord Taylor of Blackburn Lord Patel of Blackburn Lord Carter of Coles

Government Officials: Mr Ed Owen, then my Special Adviser in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

I hope this is helpful.

22 September 2006

4. Letter to Mr Ben Wallace MP from the constituency secretary to Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, 21 September 2006

Many thanks for your letter following on from one you sent to Mr Straw in April. Your letter was passed to us by his Private Office in London at the end of August.

18 Mr Jack Straw

I apologise for the delay in getting back to you — as the dinner took place over 2 years ago it has taken some time locating the details of all those who attended.

For your information the following MPs, Peers and Government officials attended the event:

George Howarth MP Colin Pickthall MP Gerald Kaufman MP Helen Southworth MP David Borrow MP Hilton Dawson MP John Hutton MP

Lord Taylor of Blackburn Lord Patel of Blackburn Lord Carter

Ed Owen (Special Adviser to Mr Straw at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office).

I hope this is helpful.

21 September 2006

5. Personal Statement by Lord Taylor of Blackburn, 29 October 2008

Lord Taylor of Blackburn: My Lords, with the leave of the House, I should like to make a personal Statement. On 22 October, during exchanges on an Oral Question tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Ezra, on winter energy supplies, I asked a supplementary question about gas storage. On reflection, I should have declared an interest, which appears in the register of non-parliamentary interests, in a company called Canatxx Energy Ventures Limited. I humbly apologise to the House.

HL Deb, 29 October 2008, Col 1567

6. Letter to the Commissioner from Mr Ben Wallace MP, 11 November 2008

Since my complaint concerning the Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Member for Blackburn, I would like to submit some further information and background which has been uncovered in recent days.

Following a Sunday Times investigation it has emerged that the donation from Canatxx was of the amount of £3000. It also was not a civic event with only Labour County, District Councillors and Members of Parliament invited. No Conservative MPs from Lancashire received invitations. Cheques for the event were made out to Blackburn Constituency Labour Party and paid into the Co-operative Bank account of the local Labour Party.

In addition the event was organised by the constituency Labour Party and was discussed at a preceding General Management meeting. It is also now established that Dennis Volter, Chief Executive of Canatxx, attended the event and that Jack Straw received a donation from Lord Taylor of Blackburn who was then, as now, a paid adviser to Canatxx. When interviewed by the Sunday Times Michael Poultney, Treasurer of Blackburn Labour party in 2004, stated: “Technically anybody who bought more than eight tickets counted as a donor to the Party.” It is therefore clear that the Labour Party Officers were under the impression that this was a Labour Party event and that ticket holders would have a similar view given who they had to make the cheques out to.

I would ask that you take these details into account when investigating my allegations. The rebuttal from the Member for Blackburn that the event was not political is clearly refuted by the evidence above. It is also worrying that the statement from Mr Straw which said that he had “no connection with Canatxx before the dinner or since” is contradicted by his association with Lord Taylor.

Mr Jack Straw 19

I hope this is assistance to you in your investigation.

11 November 2008

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:

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:

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;

20 Mr Jack Straw

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

8. File Note by the Executive Assistant in the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, 3 October 2006

Jack Straw

[A senior official] rang from the Leader's office asking for advice on Mr Straw’s behalf.

In April 2004 a reception had been held in Mr Straw’s constituency to mark his 25 years as MP. The reception was sponsored by Canatxx, a gas storage company, who have had a planning application in the neighbouring constituency turned down. Ben Wallace, the MP for the area, has previously asked Mr Straw for information about the reception, and has now raised a further query about £3,000 worth of champagne provided by Canatxx at the reception, at which were also present 7 other Labour MPs and 3 Labour peers.

The reception was not registered—should it have been, and what are the implications for the other Members present?

3 October 2006

9. E-mail to the Commissioner from the Executive Assistant in the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, 3 October 2006

For information -

I had a call from [ ], Head of Office for Jack Straw. In April 2004 a gas storage company called Canatxx sponsored a reception in Mr Straw's constituency to mark his 25 years as MP. Ben Wallace, MP for neighbouring constituency (in which Canatxx has had a failed planning application) wrote to Mr Straw shortly after the reception asking for details about [it]. According to [the official] the matter was not dealt with immediately and Mr Wallace has been pursuing the matter since then. A further request from him produced the information that Canatxx provided £3000 worth of champagne for the reception, which was also attended by 7 other Labour MPs and 3 Labour peers. Mr Straw is asking whether he should have registered the benefit, and what implications there are for the other Members.

Mr Jack Straw 21

I discussed this with [the Registrar] and went back to [the official] with the following advice. If asked at the time, the Registrar would have advised registration by Mr Straw, but the other Members would not have needed to register (based on value of hospitality received). [The official] will probably advise Mr Straw to register now and write an apology to Mr Wallace, who he believes will make a complaint. I said that, with the knowledge of a possible complaint, we could not go any further in advising Mr Straw what to do.

3 October 2006

10. Letter to the Commissioner from Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, 11 November 2008

I understand from press inquiries on Friday and over the weekend, and subsequent press reports, that Ben Wallace MP has asked you to investigate the circumstances surrounding the sponsorship of an event in my constituency in 2004.

As a result of these reports, I asked officers of Blackburn Labour party, and my constituency office, to look back at the records of this event. I hope the following will be helpful if you do wish to examine this matter.

The event in question was a dinner held on 24 April 2004 at Blackburn Rovers Football Club to mark the 25th anniversary of my election as an MP. It was organised by the Blackburn Labour party and by my constituency office. The event was in no way a fund-raising event—indeed, it made a loss which I met from my own pocket. Moreover it was never seen as a partisan political event—people of all political persuasions and none attended, including representatives of the police, the NHS, and the local newspaper.

As I have previously stated to Parliament, a company called Canatxx agreed to sponsor the event. I provided this information in a Parliamentary written answer in 2006 (giving information which was not directly germane to the question):

Mr. Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has received official hospitality from Canatxx Ventures Limited, Canatxx UK and its associated companies in the last four years.

- 18 Apr 2006: Hansard, Column 71W

I understand from a report in the Lancashire Telegraph on November 11 2008 that Lord Taylor of Blackburn has said that he invited Canatxx to make a contribution to the event.

Canatxx contributed £3000 in sponsorship. The money was used in full to meet some of the costs of the dinner. No one at this distance is clear exactly why, but in the event this money was paid in April 2004 not into the Blackburn Labour party account, as was the ticket money for the event, but into a petty cash account used by my constituency office.

The officers of the Blackburn Labour party have always been assiduous in meeting the obligations to declare donations above the relevant limits, and have erred on the side of caution. But because this cheque was not paid into the Blackburn Labour party account the then Treasurer was unaware of it, and the person who paid it in to the constituency office account was unaware that it was likely to have had to be declared.

I want to underline that my constituency office, the Blackburn Labour party and I stand ready to provide any further information you should require in the course of any further inquiries into this matter.

I am now advised that the contribution from Canatxx should almost certainly have been registered with the Electoral Commission and the Parliamentary Register of Members’ Interests. This was a regrettable oversight, but the error in not doing so was made entirely in good faith.

22 Mr Jack Straw

I hope that my making clear to Parliament the involvement of Canatxx in the event underlines my approach to these matters.

Mr Wallace has questioned whether there is any link between Canatxx’s involvement in this event and its application for a gas storage facility at a site some 30 miles from my constituency. This suggestion is completely unfounded. I have never been involved in Canatxx’s business or any planning application made by them—not before the dinner in 2004, during it or since.

11 November 2008

11. Letter to Mr Ben Wallace MP from the Commissioner, 17 November 2008

Thank you for your letter of 11 November with some further information in support of your complaint against Mr Straw about the donation he is reported to have received from a commercial company in support of a dinner held in his constituency in April 2004.

I have noted the further information you have provided. My inquiry, as you know, is into whether Mr Straw may have broken the rules of the House in not registering the reported donation in the Register of Members’ Interests. Whether or not the further information you have provided is relevant will, of course, depend on Mr Straw’s response to your complaint. I am copying your letter to Mr Straw so that he is aware of the points you have made.

In order to help me with my inquiries, I would be grateful if you could confirm that you have no further information on this matter which you consider relevant to your complaint. It would also appear that you have been aware of this matter since 2006. It would be helpful if you could confirm this and if you could let me know why you did not make a complaint about it to the Commissioner at that time. I raise this because this could be a matter which I would need to refer to in any report I make to the Committee on Standards and Privileges.

I would be grateful for your clarification on both these matters and look forward to hearing from you. If you could respond within the next week that would be particularly helpful.

17 November 2008

12. Letter to the Commissioner from Mr Ben Wallace MP, 19 November 2008

Thank you for your letter dated 17 November. You ask me to clarify two points: first whether I was aware of the matter since 2006: secondly why I made the complaint now. Let me say from the outset that I do not consider these questions to have any material relevance as to whether a Member broke Parliamentary rules or not. While a motive behind a complaint may be of passing interest to those who seek political excuse it should not be reason to escape justice or in this case the upholding of a complaint.

However, in order to demonstrate my good will towards yourself and, if needs be, the Committee I am happy to answer the questions.

When was I first aware of the case?

After being informed by a local resident I asked a PQ of the Member for Blackburn and wrote a letter asking for details. The Member responded to the PQ only informing me that Canatxx had sponsored the dinner. No location, exact date, or cost was intimated. In addition I sent a letter on 26 April 2006 asking for further details, which was answered five months later detailing which MPs attended.

Why did I make the complaint now?

I made the complaint because it took considerable time to track down further evidence as to the scale of contribution to the Member for Blackburn. I had to embark on a proper investigation. In addition, Canatxx

Mr Jack Straw 23

started to meet with Government and politicians in December 2007 in order to begin the process of submitting a fresh application to Lancashire County Council, which is likely to be lodged next month or in January 2009.

Last month a paid adviser to Canatxx, Lord Taylor of Blackburn, was forced to apologise to the House of Lords for failing to declare his interest when pressing the Government on the issue of gas storage. Consequently these two recent actions accelerated me to seek full transparency of the Company’s past behaviour in order that my constituents and I can be assured that nothing untoward could happen this time.

19 November 2008

13. Letter to the Commissioner from Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, 21 November 2008

Thank you for your letter of 11 November 2008 regarding the complaint you have received from Mr Ben Wallace MP about a dinner held in my constituency to mark the 25th anniversary of my election as an MP.

You will be aware that I have already written to you regarding Mr Wallace’s complaints (our letters will have crossed in the post). I enclose a copy for your convenience. I am also in receipt of your letter dated 13 November, and I hope this reply answers your questions.

You asked me four specific questions:

1. What were the circumstances which led to Canatxx making a contribution to the celebratory dinner?

The approach to Canatxx and their attendance at the dinner was made by Lord Taylor of Blackburn. Lord Taylor is a long standing friend of mine. He was Leader of the Blackburn Borough Council in the mid- seventies. He has been a contributor to Blackburn Labour party's election expenses in respect of my parliamentary candidature. He is an adviser to Canatxx. I played no part in the approach. Lord Taylor has said that he is happy to let you have more details if you wish.

2. What consideration you gave then or subsequently to the registration of any such donation received from Canatxx and what your conclusions were?

Though clearly I should have given the matter of registration of this donation proper consideration at the time it was made, I am afraid that because of my work load and because of the nature of the event, which was neither fund-raising nor partisan, I did not do so. I also assumed with good reason that the very assiduous officers of the Blackburn Labour party, especially its then Treasurer Mr Michael Poultney, would ensure compliance with any registration requirement under the 2000 Act. What I did not know at the time, nor did Mr Poultney, was (as I explained in my earlier letter) the cheque from Canatxx was not paid into the Blackburn Labour party account but instead by my then PA in into the account which she ran in respect of constituency office expenses. This meant that Mr Poultney was never aware of the donation. Had he been he would have registered the donation with the Electoral Commission and almost certainly have alerted me of the need to make a registration too.

In April 2006 Mr Wallace asked me a Parliamentary Question to which I made reference in my earlier letter to you. Although it was not directly relevant to the answer, I thought that for the sake of completeness I should make clear to Mr Wallace that Canatxx had been a sponsor of the celebratory dinner, and I duly did so. It has therefore been on the public record of Parliament since then, albeit not on the register.

In September 2006 a letter dated 20 April 2006 from Mr Wallace was received by my constituency office in Blackburn. (The letter evidently got mislaid in my move from the Foreign Office in early May 2006). As you will note from your file both my Blackburn office and I replied in similar terms to Mr Wallace on 21 and 22 September.

My then Principal Private Secretary in the Commons Leader’s office, [ ], with whom I have discussed the matter, tells me that it was I (in light of the correspondence from Mr Wallace) who asked him to find out from your office whether this donation should have been registered, or submitted for late registration. Both his and my recollection of exactly what happened next is, at this distance, a little hazy. But he and I are clear that in the

24 Mr Jack Straw

light of the advice from your office I said that I should make a late registration, and he thinks I asked him to send a letter or email to that effect to the Registrar. As to quite why that did not happen neither he nor I can shed any light. On 28 September 2006 I received a rather fulsome acknowledgement from Mr Wallace [WE 14], and thought no more of the matter until Friday last, 7 November 2008, when my office was contacted by the Sunday Times.

3. 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?

To the best of my knowledge and belief no other 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.

4. Whether you consider that any donations from Canatxx or anyone else should have been registered by you in the Register of Members’ Interests.

As this was a donation “linked to membership of the House” I recognise that this donation should have been registered, and I am very sorry that this did not happen. I should like now to make a late registration under the rectification procedure specified in the annex to your procedural note.

I hope however that it will be accepted that the mistake in not registering the donation arose in good faith, and that you may consider the fact I disclosed the sponsorship quite voluntarily in answer to Mr Wallace’s Parliamentary Question of April 2006 is a clear indication that at no stage did I have any intention whatsoever of concealing this donation or acting in a manner outwith the requirements of the House.

I should like to state for the record that beyond the sponsorship Canatxx provided for my anniversary event, I have never had any dealings with them on any matter whatsoever, not before the dinner, during it or subsequently.

In summary, I think the circumstances here can but be described as a chapter of accidents. Because the event was being organised as town event to mark my 25 years in office, and far from being a partisan political event a very wide cross section of people involved in the Borough (including the police the NHS, the Bishop, and those of other political opinions) were attending, we were not instinctively as alert as we should have been to the registration requirements. In addition, there were complications in organising the event because of the time taken off through sickness of my then Personal Assistant in my constituency office.

May I add this? I have throughout my long parliamentary and Ministerial career sought to observe the highest standards, and specifically always to register any benefit which could remotely come within the regulations. It is a matter therefore of deep regret to me that for the reasons stated this did not happen, for which I of course take full responsibility; but the mistakes were made entirely in good faith.

I hope this is helpful and answers your letter in full. If you wish for any further information I should of course be happy to produce it. I am copying this, with a covering letter to the Electoral Commission.

21 November 2008

14. Letter to Rt Hon Jack Straw MP from Mr Ben Wallace MP, 28 September 2006

Thank you very much for your detailed response and for clarifying that neither John Prescott nor members of his department attended the celebration—I am very grateful. As I am sure you can understand there is a planning application by Canatxx UK in my constituency and it has caused both community and county wide upset. I am keen to ensure that the outcome of the public inquiry is made in a light of total impartiality.

Thank you once again for your response.

28 September 2006

Mr Jack Straw 25

15. Letter to the Commissioner from Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, 26 November 2008

Thank you for your further letter of 17 November regarding Mr Ben Wallace MP’s further letter to you of 11 November. I have little to add to my earlier letter.

I have been very clear in accepting in my earlier letters that the Canatxx sponsorship of the dinner in April 2004 should have been declared on the Register.

Other than the Canatxx sponsorship, however, no sums received for tickets to the event exceeded the threshold for declaration set by the Electoral Commission or the threshold for registration as sponsorship on the Register of Members Interests.

I do not dispute that the majority of the cheques for the event were paid into the Blackburn Labour party account or that the local party arranged the event. I have said so in my earlier correspondence. However, the nature of the event was entirely non-political — and indeed it made a loss which I met from my own pocket.

It is worth reiterating that all money received for tickets and other sponsorship was used to meet the costs of the event.

Mr Wallace says Lord Taylor has made donations to me. Any donations from Lord Taylor have been registered with the Register of Members’ Interests and the Electoral Commission.

I do not doubt that Mr Volter attended the event, though I have no recollection of speaking to him. As I have said previously, I have never had any involvement in Canatxx’s business.

Mr Wallace concludes by saying that there is a contradiction between my statement that I have had no connection with Canatxx before the dinner or since and my association with Lord Taylor. There is no contradiction at all: Lord Taylor is a long-standing friend and colleague of mine, but I have never had any dealings with Canatxx’s business.

26 November 2008

16. Letter to Rt Hon Jack Straw MP from the Commissioner, 26 November 2008

Thank you for your letter of 21 November in response to my letters of 11 and 13 November about this complaint in respect of a dinner held in your constituency to mark the 25th anniversary of your election as a Member of Parliament.

I was most grateful to receive this. I believe that I have nearly all the information I need in order to reach my conclusion on this complaint. There are two final points, however, on which your clarification would be most helpful. Could you first confirm my understanding of your answer to the second question I asked, which is that you were aware of the company’s donation of £3,000 to the dinner at or near the time it was made, in April 2004?

Secondly, I see from the Registrar’s files that you were sent a copy of your full register entry following a new entry you made on 30 January 2007. I enclose a copy. That entry did not of course include any reference to the donation for your 2004 dinner. Could you let me know whether you recall checking that entry and, if you did so, can you help me on why you think the absence of the donation was not picked up at that stage?

I have decided that I should prepare a short memorandum for the Committee on Standards and Privileges on this complaint. Once I have your response to this letter, I shall start preparing the factual sections of my memorandum. I will show you these sections in draft so that you can comment on their accuracy. Once I have your response, I will then add my conclusions and submit the full memorandum to the Clerk to the Committee, who will let you have a copy in advance of the Committee’s meeting for any comments you may wish to make.

26 Mr Jack Straw

I note that you would like to make a late registration under the rectification procedure. Rectification at this stage would not be possible since I will be submitting a memorandum to the Committee on Standards and Privileges. You may, however, make an ordinary late entry if you so wish. Such an entry would not be in heavy type and would not be identified as having been made under the rectification procedure. I am asking the Registrar to get in touch with you to discuss this.

I am not copying my correspondence to the Electoral Commission since, as you will appreciate, I am considering only the requirements under the Code of Conduct for Members and the associated rules of the House and because of course our exchanges are at this stage subject to Parliamentary privilege.

I am grateful for your help on this matter.

26 November 2008

17. Entry for Rt Hon Jack Straw MP in the Register of Members’ Interests, 30 January 2007

STRAW, Rt. Hon. Jack (Blackburn)

5. Gifts, benefits and hospitality (UK)

July-August 2005, space available upgrade from BA World Traveller Plus to BA Club, London/Boston; and to BA First, Boston/London, for self and wife. (Registered 6 February 2006)

January 2006, space available upgrade from BA World Traveller Plus to BA Club, Johannesburg/London for wife and daughter. (Registered 6 February 2006)

22 June 2006, space available upgrade from Economy to Club Europe for self and wife on London to Istanbul flight provided by British Airways. (Registered 25 July 2006)

8 July 2006, two tickets for self and wife for Wimbledon Ladies Final, and hospitality, courtesy of BP plc. (Registered 25 July 2006)

6. Overseas visits

22-26 June 2006, to Istanbul with my wife, as guests of the Turkish Government who provided us with hotel accommodation. (We paid for our own flights; see Category 5 above.) (Registered 5 September 2006)

13-17 September 2006, to Aspen, Colorado, accompanied by my wife, to attend and participate in 2006 Forstmann Little Aspen Conference. Hotel accommodation in Aspen and flights London/New York/Aspen and Washington DC/London paid for by Forstmann Little & Co, New York. Travel from Aspen/Washington courtesy of Mr Johan Eliasch in his private plane. (Registered 22 September 2006)

7. Overseas benefits and gifts

Payment by the Hindustan Times, New Delhi, of return London-Delhi air fare for my spouse to enable her to accompany me on my participation in the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, 16-20 November 2006. (Registered 30 January 2007)

18. Letter to the Commissioner from Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, 3 December 2008

Thank you for your further letter of 26 November 2008.

Your understanding of the time when I was first made aware of this donation of £3000 by Canatxx is correct—i.e. I became aware of it at or near the time it was made in April 2004.

For the reasons explained in my earlier letters the donation, as it were, slipped off my radar very quickly after that, until I received the Parliamentary Question from Mr Wallace in April 2006, when I put the fact of the

Mr Jack Straw 27

donation in the parliamentary record, albeit not on the Register. It reappeared on my radar again in September 2006—and I have set out those circumstances in a letter to you. But I am afraid the matter then went out of my mind altogether until the recent complaint from Mr Wallace. Though I have no specific recollections of this now, I am sure I did receive the full register entry on 30 January 2007 to which you make reference. I assume that I gave it a quick check to ensure that it did include the items I had declared but since the matter of the Canatxx donation had slipped out of my mind, it did not jog my memory at that stage.

I hope this is helpful.

3 December 2008

28 Mr Jack Straw

Formal minutes

Tuesday 20 January 2008

Members present:

Sir George Young, in the Chair

Mr Kevin Barron Mr Chris Mullin Mr David Curry The Hon Nicholas Soames Mr Andrew Dismore Mr Paddy Tipping Nick Harvey Dr Alan Whitehead Mr Elfyn Llwyd

Draft Report [Mr Jack Straw], proposed by the Chairman, brought up and read.

Ordered, That the Chairman’s draft Report be read a second time, paragraph by paragraph.

Paragraphs 1 to 6 read and agreed to.

Paragraphs 7 and 8 read, amended and agreed to.

A Paper was appended to the Report as Appendix 1.

Resolved, That the Report, as amended, be the First Report of the Committee to the House.

Ordered, That the Chairman make the Report to the House.

[Adjourned till Tuesday 27 January at 9.45 am