Simon Hughes
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House of Commons Committee on Standards Simon Hughes Third Report of Session 2013–14 HC 805 House of Commons Committee on Standards Simon Hughes Third Report of Session 2013–14 Volume I: Report, together with Appendices and formal minutes Written evidence is contained in Volume II, available on the Committee website at www.parliament.uk/standards Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed 5 November 2013 HC 805 Published on 7 November 2013 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £12.00 The Committee on Standards The Committee on Standards 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 Kevin Barron MP (Labour, Rother Valley) (Chair) Sir Paul Beresford MP (Conservative, Mole Valley) Mr Robert Buckland MP (Conservative, South Swindon) Rt hon Tom Clarke MP (Labour, Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill) Mr Christopher Chope MP (Conservative, Christchurch) Mr Geoffrey Cox MP (Conservative, Torridge and West Devon) Sharon Darcy (Lay Member) Sir Nick Harvey MP (Liberal Democrat, North Devon) Mr Peter Jinman (Lay Member) Fiona O’Donnell MP (Labour, East Lothian) Mr Walter Rader (Lay Member) Heather Wheeler MP (Conservative, South Derbyshire) Dr Alan Whitehead MP (Labour, Southampton Test) The following were also Members of the Committee during the Parliament: Annette Brooke MP (Liberal Democrat, Mid Dorset and North Poole) 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/standards. Footnotes: “WE” footnotes refer to the numbered items in the virtual volume on the Committee’s website Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Eve Samson (Clerk), Danielle Nash (Second Clerk) and Miss Christine McGrane (Committee Assistant). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to The Clerk of the Committee on Standards, Journal Office, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6615 Simon Hughes 1 Contents Report Page Report 3 Findings and recommendations on the complaint 3 Dealing with the Commissioner 6 Donations linked to Members 6 Declaration of interests 7 Appendix 1: Memorandum from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards—Complaint against Rt Hon Simon Hughes MP 8 Introduction 8 The complaint 8 Complaints in respect of Southwark Metals Ltd 9 City Cruises Plc 10 IPA Consulting Ltd 10 Relevant Rules of the House 11 Registration of interests 11 Declaration of interests 12 Lobbying for reward or consideration 13 My Inquiries 14 Relevant donations 14 Mr Hughes’s evidence 16 Evidence from the Registrar of Members’ Financial Interests 29 Findings of fact 31 Standard of Proof 33 Conclusions 33 Overall conclusions 37 Appendix 2: Complaint letter from Peter John to the former Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards [WE 1] 39 Appendix 3: Letter from Simon Hughes to the Clerk of the Committee on Standards 47 Formal Minutes 49 Simon Hughes 3 Report Findings and recommendations on the complaint 1. This Report deals with the memorandum from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards reporting on her investigation into four matters connected with the conduct of Mr Simon Hughes: that Mr Hughes failed to register six donations to his local party received from four named companies over six years despite the links he had with the donors; that he failed to declare two of these financial interests, in the House and in the Public Bill Committee on the Scrap Metal Dealers Bill; that he failed to declare two of these financial interests when approaching another Member and local councillors; and that he arranged one meeting which amounted to lobbying for reward or consideration, contrary to the rules of the House. 2. The Commissioner’s memorandum gives full details of her inquiry, and her findings on each of these points. In this Report we are principally concerned with two matters: Mr Hughes’s failure to register donations which were linked to him although made to his local party in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests and his actions in arranging a meeting to discuss a development near his constituency. 3. Members have to register donations to constituency parties or associations where they are “linked” to the Member him or herself, even though the party will also report those donations to the Electoral Commission. The current Guide to the Rules says: For the purposes of the Register of Members’ Financial Interests, support should be regarded as “linked” directly to a Member’s candidacy or membership of the House if it is expressly tied to the Member by name, eg if it is a contribution to the Member’s fighting fund or a donation which has been invited or encouraged by the Member or candidate. Financial contributions to constituency associations, parties or area associations, etc, which are not linked to a Member’s candidacy or membership of the House, that is where the donation would have been forthcoming irrespective of the identity of the candidate or Member, and the candidate or Member played no personal part in securing it, do not have to be registered on the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.1 Some of the donations in question were made when the 2002 edition of the Guide to the Rules applied. That said: support should be regarded as “linked” directly to a Member’s candidacy or Membership of the House if it is expressly tied to the member by name, e.g. if it is a 1 HC (2010-12) 1885, para 30 4 Simon Hughes contribution to the Member’s fighting fund or a donation which has been solicited or encouraged by the Member.2 4. The Commissioner’s inquiry concluded that over a period of six years Mr Hughes failed to register six donations to his local party which were linked to him. All the donations in question were reported to the Electoral Commission by Mr Hughes’s local party. A further donation was wrongly recorded by the local party, and was promptly reported to the Electoral Commission and registered when the mistake came to light as a result of the Commissioner’s inquiry. Although there was no intention to hide the donations, and we note that over the period covered by the investigation Mr Hughes did register a number of other linked donations to his party, we agree with the Commissioner that the number of breaches suggest that Mr Hughes was “not as attentive as he should have been to the rules of the House”.3 5. In the course of assessing the complaint, the Commissioner also had to consider whether a meeting Mr Hughes had arranged constituted lobbying for reward and consideration, which would have been a serious breach of the rules of the House. Mr Hughes had facilitated a meeting with local government officials and representatives of MPs from the neighbouring constituency to discuss a planning application for a site adjoining his constituency. Mr Hughes said he had made it clear that he could not take sides on the merits of the development because it was outside the constituency, and that he could not seek to influence local councillors because his position was that planning applications should be the responsibility of local councillors, not the MP.4 6. The director of Southwark Metals Ltd, a company based in Mr Southwark,5 asked for guidance in contacting the local council on the development of some land, in which the company had an interest. Mr Hughes made inquiries about this land in 2011. In April 2012 a local architect also contacted Mr Hughes proposing that there should be a meeting to discuss the plans. In September 2012 Mr Hughes’s diary manager tried to set up a meeting between Mr Hughes, the MP’s for the area concerned, Rt Hon Harriet Harman, and local councillors. That meeting took place on 6 November 2012, although not all those invited attended.6 In April 2012 Mr Hughes’s local party received a donation from the director of Southwark Metals Ltd. The Commissioner’s memorandum notes: “Mr Hughes has told me that he met the director of the company; he followed this up with a direct request for a donation, which included a request to fund one or two interns in his office”.7 7.