Conservative leader and cabinet ministers condemn findings of undercover 'sting'
David Cameron today sought to turn Labour sleaze into a damaging election issue when he called on
Gordon Brown to investigate allegations that former cabinet ministers, including Stephen Byers
and Geoff Hoon, had shown they were willing to use their access and influence to lobby in return
for cash.
Cameron called on Brown to investigate Byers's claims that he had successfully lobbied the
transport secretary, Lord Adonis, and the business secretary, Lord Mandelson, to change important
decisions on behalf of commercial firms.
Byers claimed he had persuaded Mandelson to tone down food labelling rules on behalf of Tesco. He
also suggested he had persuaded Adonis to tone down his approach to National Express over its
decision to pull out of the East Coast main line franchise.
Byers, offering himself as "a cab for hire", made the claims in an attempt to persuade an
undercover reporter posing as a company executive of his influence in government. He said he
would expect £3,000 to £5,000 in return for his services
He was secretly recorded by journalists from Channel 4 and the Sunday Times posing as
representatives of an American lobbying firm. He withdrew the claims a day later. Adonis,
Mandelson and both companies have denied the claims.
Cabinet ministers including the foreign secretary, David Miliband, denounced Byers and the other
former ministers. "There is absolutely no room for anyone to trade on their ministerial office,"
Miliband said. Labour also quickly followed an earlier Conservative initiative by making a
manifesto commitment to a statutory registry of lobbyists.
But Cameron said the claims raised wider questions about whether MPs had broken sleaze rules and
urged Gordon Brown to investigate potential breaches within the government itself. Exploiting
Labour discomfort, Cameron said: "These are shocking allegations. I have been warning for some
time that lobbying would be the next scandal to hit politics.
"First of all, the House of Commons needs to conduct a thorough investigation into these [former]
Labour ministers but also the prime minister would want to get to the bottom of the allegations
being made about his government". There were also calls for Byers to be investigated by the
standards commissioner.
Byers issued a statement yesterday saying: "I am confident that any investigation from the
standards commissioner will confirm that I have always fully complied with the MPs' code of
conduct. I have never lobbied ministers on behalf of commercial organisations and have always
fully disclosed my outside interests."
There has been no suggestion that he sought money from either Tesco or National Express. This
meant he was not required to register the meetings in his entry in the register of interests. He
also had no requirement to seek the agreement of the business advisory committee on public
appointments since he was not offered a job by the fictitious lobbying firm.
Byers, due to stand down at the election as MP for North Tyneside, said he had exaggerated his
influence, and both National Express and Tesco rejected his account. A spokesman for Tesco said:
"We did not speak to Mr Byers on food labelling, regulation or indeed any other issue. These
claims are completely fictitious and Mr Byers has acknowledged this to us."
Adonis and National Express both denied Byers had influenced government thinking. The firm said:
"We have not paid Stephen Byers MP in relation to the discussions we had with him on the East
Coast main line or for any other matter. He has not made any deals for National Express."
Labour responded to the revelations by saying "the time has come to support a statutory register
of lobbyists and we will bring forward proposals to that effect in our manifesto, building on the
work we have already done to create a voluntary code." The public administration select committee
proposed a statutory code a year ago, but the government rejected the proposal in favour of a
voluntary measure.
In other responses to the committee report, the government agreed departments will publish online
information about ministerial meetings with interest groups and hospitality received in a
ministerial capacity on a quarterly basis.
Hoon, the former defence secretary, offered to lead delegations to ministers and told the
reporter that he was looking to turn his knowledge and contacts into "something that frankly
makes money". Hoon said: "There was a discussion about my qualifications and experience for such
a position. I made clear in the course of the conversation that I would not lobby government and
that I was not interested in work of that kind.
"At no stage did I offer, nor would I attempt, to sell confidential or privileged information
arising from my time in government. "I did not break any parliamentary or ministerial rules in
the course of the conversation."
Patricia Hewitt, a former health secretary, was accused of claiming she helped to obtain a key
seat on a government advisory group for a client paying her £3,000 a day. She later denied
the allegation, saying she had only been offering to do such work once she had left the Commons.
Thirteen Labour MPs and seven Tories were approached for the investigation. The Tory whips'
office was alerted to a possible sting when one of their MPs, Julie Kirkbride, became suspicious
of a fake lobbyist.
Patrick Wintourguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use
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