British MP under investigation for BGC advisor role

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards has launched an investigation into Laurence Robertson.

UK.- The UK The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards is investigating the Conservative MP Laurence Robertson for his work with the Betting and Gaming Council. The probe comes after the media outlet NationalWorld reported that the £2,000-a-month position could breach rules.

MPs are now barred from providing paid parliamentary advice in a new code introduced this year due to the Owen Paterson scandal in 2021. MPs must “not provide, or agree to provide, paid parliamentary advice, including undertaking, or agreeing to undertake services as a Parliamentary strategist, adviser or consultant”.

Robertson took up a role with the BGC in October 2020 before the ban came into force, but NationalWorld claims that it contacted Robertson after the change of rules and that he said his role has not changed.

According to the register of members’ financial interests, the MP for Tewkesbury’s role with the BGC was “parliamentary adviser”. However, that has now been changed to state merely “advisor”. Robertson has denied any wrongdoing, claiming: “I do not, and have not, provided parliamentary advice to the BGC.”

The NationalWorld reported that since 2014, Robertson has attended “almost every major event in the horse racing calendar at least once courtesy of the industry”, including visits to Goodwood, Ascot, the Grand National, Epsom, York, Newbury, Chepstow and Doncaster.

Last month, the Conservative Party’s Scott Benton, MP for Blackpool South, was suspended after The Times filmed him offering to lobby ministers for the gambling industry. Undercover reports posing as gambling investors filmed Benton offering to lobby on their behalf.

He claimed that he would be able to table parliamentary questions for the reporters and that he would be able to leak a copy of the government’s delayed gambling white paper to them up to 48 hours before it is published.