Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has been reported to the parliamentary standards commissioner for a second time over his failure to declare a £30,000 union donation to his office.
McDonnell is already being investigated by the commissioner, Kathryn Hudson, because he secretly employed hard-left “radical economist” James Meadway without declaring it to the parliamentary authorities.
Meadway’s £30,000 post, which allowed him to work in McDonnell’s parliamentary office, was funded by the TSSA union.
When the unorthodox arrangement was first reported by The Times in May, McDonnell’s spokesman told the newspaper that Meadway merely acted “in an advisory role to the Labour Party”. He also claimed McDonnell had complied with “all necessary rules”.
Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen lodged a complaint with Hudson at the time, triggering her original inquiry.
Yesterday, Heat Street published a series of emails which strongly suggest that The Times was misled over Meadway’s employment.
Far from being a mere advisor to the Labour Party, he was based in McDonnell’s office full-time, with his own desk, computer and telephone,. He also attended key shadow Treasury team meetings for months.
The emails also confirm that Labour Party general secretary Iain McNicol was unhappy with the explanation McDonnell’s then-spokesman, James Mills, offered to The Times. McNicol emphasised that the TSSA’s £30,000 had still not been registered with parliament, as it should have been months earlier.
As a result of the emails coming to light, Bridgen has sent copies of them to Hudson in an effort to underline the validity of his original complaint.
Bridgen told Heat Street this morning: “Why did John McDonnell try to keep secret the fact that James Meadway was working in his office? Why was he so worried about people finding out about it? Why did he apparently mislead a journalist about this? Having been caught concealing the truth, and having been caught failing to declare the original £30,000 donation, he has many questions to answer. Given Jeremy Corbyn’s account of his recent journey on Virgin Trains, perhaps lying is just in the DNA of the hard left.”
Last month McDonnell registered his receipt of the TSSA’s £30,000 in the register of MPs’ financial interests. By doing so, he appears to have accepted that Meadway was in fact working for him, and not for the Labour Party. This registration was easily outside the rules, which state all such donations must be declared within 28 days.
Heat Street is awaiting comment from McDonnell’s spokesman.