Mr Derek Conway MP

House of Commons Committee on Standards and Privileges Mr Derek Conway MP Third Report of Session 2008-09 Report, Annex and Appendices, together with formal minutes Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed 27 January 2009 HC 207 Published on 29 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. 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 Derek Conway MP 1 Contents Report Page Mr Derek Conway MP 3 Introduction 3 The complaint 3 The Commissioner’s findings 4 What work did Henry Conway do? 4 How much was Henry Conway paid for this work? 5 Were the sums paid to Henry Conway justified? 5 Conclusion 8 Annex 10 Appendix 1: Memorandum from the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards 11 Appendix 2: Letter to the Chairman of the Committee from Mr Derek Conway MP, 16 January 2009 144 Formal minutes 147 Mr Derek Conway MP 3 Mr Derek Conway MP Introduction 1. In January 2008, this Committee reported on the outcome of the investigation by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards of a complaint against Mr Derek Conway, the Member for Bexley and Old Sidcup.1 In upholding the complaint, the then Commissioner concluded that Mr Conway had overpaid his younger son, Freddie Conway, whom he had employed as his Parliamentary research assistant, and had awarded him excessive bonuses.2 The Committee accepted these findings and concluded that a serious breach of the rules had taken place.3 2. The previous Commissioner noted that Mr Conway had earlier employed his elder son, Henry Conway, in a similar capacity.4 Mr Conway’s employment of Henry Conway had not been part of the original complaint investigated by the Commissioner, and the Commissioner was not, therefore, able to comment on it. However, in February 2008 the current Commissioner received a complaint concerning Mr Conway’s employment of Henry Conway from Mr Duncan Borrowman, accompanied by sufficient evidence to merit an inquiry.5 3. Following a thorough investigation of the complaint, the Commissioner submitted a memorandum to the Committee in January 2009, a copy of which is attached at Appendix 1. In accordance with our usual practice, we sent a copy of the memorandum to Mr Conway and invited him to make any observations, either in writing or in person. Mr Conway replied in writing and a copy of his letter is at Appendix 2. The complaint 4. Mr Borrowman complained that Henry Conway’s employment appeared to have had similar features to that of his brother, Freddie, and he asked the Commissioner to investigate whether Henry Conway’s employment met the requirements of the House’s guidance to Members on such matters, known as the Green Book.6 In particular, Mr Borrowman questioned whether Henry Conway had been employed to meet a genuine need; whether he was able and qualified to do the job; whether he actually did the job; and whether the resulting costs were reasonable and entirely attributable to Mr Conway’s Parliamentary work.7 1 Fourth Report, Session 2007–08, Conduct of Mr Derek Conway, HC 280 2 Fourth Report, Appendix 1, para 79 3 Fourth Report, para 36 4 Fourth Report, para 52 5 Appendix 1, para 5 6 Appendix 1, WE1 7 These tests are contained in the 2006 edition of the Green Book. The Commissioner has applied the tests in the 2001 edition, which was extant at the time of Henry Conway’s employment by Mr Conway. 4 Mr Derek Conway MP The Commissioner’s findings What work did Henry Conway do? 5. The Commissioner has established that Henry Conway was employed by Mr Conway from 1 July 2001 to 1 October 2004, thus overlapping with the employment of Freddie Conway by one month.8 Like his younger brother, Henry Conway was a full-time student at the time he was employed by Mr Conway—initially as an undergraduate and later as a postgraduate.9 6. Henry Conway’s duties as Mr Conway’s research assistant were set out in his contract of employment and were wide-ranging. They included the performance of functions unrelated to research, such as dealing with constituents.10 In practice, the evidence of Henry Conway and of Mr Conway is that he spent about half his time on research-related work, such as summarising or annotating documents and producing short briefing papers, and about half his time on administrative and office tasks, including opening post and filing.11 7. No documentary or other hard evidence of the work carried out by Henry Conway has survived.12 Mr Conway sent the Commissioner a photograph of Henry Conway with a foreign ambassador taken on the Parliamentary estate;13 we do not regard this as hard evidence of work carried out. However, Henry Conway was a student at the Courtauld Institute of Art near Westminster; he lived at his parents’ flat in Westminster; and he was seen about the Palace of Westminster on several occasions.14 The Commissioner concludes, on the basis of the evidence he has seen, that Henry Conway did undertake work for Mr Conway during the period of his employment.15 The Commissioner does not consider that there is sufficient evidence to substantiate the allegation that Henry Conway failed to work the 18 hours a week for which he was contracted and paid.16 In reaching these and his other conclusions, the Commissioner has operated a high standard of proof, reflecting the seriousness of the allegations and the consequences for those involved, if the complaint be upheld.17 8. We agree with that decision and accept the Commissioner’s conclusion that it would be unfair to conclude that Henry Conway did not undertake sufficient work to fulfil the terms of his contract of employment. While we note that there is more circumstantial 8 Appendix 1, para 152 9 Appendix 1, paras 165 and 166 10 Appendix 1, WE10 11 Appendix 1, paras 168 to 170 12 Appendix 1, paras 174, 189 and 191 13 Appendix 1, para 14 14 Appendix 1, paras 171 to 173 and 187 15 Appendix 1, para 179 16 Appendix 1, paras 179 and 192 17 Appendix 1, paras 176 and 177 Mr Derek Conway MP 5 evidence of Henry Conway working for his father than there was in the case of Freddie Conway, it is unfortunate that there is no hard evidence. 9. In his letter to our Chairman of 16 January, commenting on the Commissioner’s memorandum, Mr Conway suggests that some of Henry Conway’s work, such as “organising foreign interest meetings”, “independent editing and responding to emails” and “assessment and preparation of photographs for the local newspapers” was more commensurate with the work expected of a senior Parliamentary researcher or assistant, which attracts a higher scale of remuneration than the grade Henry Conway was in.18 However, we note that much of the office work carried out by Henry Conway was of a type normally carried out by junior secretarial staff, who are on a lower pay scale than that on which Henry Conway was paid.19 How much was Henry Conway paid for this work? 10.

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