The hard-left union member who works for shadow chancellor John McDonnell has not been subject to any proper parliamentary security checks and is not allowed on the parliamentary estate unaccompanied, it has been alleged.
Sources claim that James Meadway, a self-styled “radical economist” whose full-time employment McDonnell concealed from parliamentary authorities for months, is only allowed a visitor’s day pass.
More on McDonnell Parlt Standards inquiry. The emails which suggest his office covered up role of economic adviser https://t.co/nYtGSUp8qA
— Michael Crick (@MichaelLCrick) August 24, 2016
Unlike other MPs’ staff who work in Westminster, Meadway has to be escorted to and from his desk by a colleague every day. Strictly speaking, he is never meant to be left alone and should not even visit the canteen without someone who has been vetted.
Insiders have pointed out that on a purely practical level this makes it almost impossible for him, and by extension McDonnell, to avoid breaching parliamentary rules.
With security fears in Westminster at an all-time high, questions are likely to be raised about why Meadway, a former Socialist Workers’ Party member, has not been subject to the necessary checks and why McDonnell has allowed such an unorthodox arrangement to continue for almost a year.
Now John McDonnell finally being investigated over allegations revealed by Times in May. Update from Heat Street. https://t.co/yB1RPzfNcE
— Lucy Fisher (@LOS_Fisher) August 23, 2016
McDonnell is already the subject of a parliamentary inquiry for failing to declare that his office accepted a £30,000 donation which covered part of Meadway’s salary. The donation was made by the TSSA transport union, where Meadway is employed.
Meadway has worked for McDonnell in his Portcullis House office since October 2015 but the shadow chancellor hid this fact from the parliamentary authorities until it was declared retrospectively in the MPs’ financial register in July 2016. He does not declare Meadway’s employment in the latest register of interests of MPs’ secretaries and research assistants, published on July 28.
Yesterday the Electoral Commission reported that between May and June 2016, the TSSA donated £45,660 to the Labour Party. The money was used for staffing costs but a Labour Party spokesman refused to say whose salary the cash funded.
This week Heat Street published a series of emails which suggest that in May John McDonnell’s then-spokesman, James Mills, misled The Times by downplaying Meadway’s status within McDonnell’s shadow Treasury team.
Instead of explaining to the newspaper that he works regularly for McDonnell personally, Mills offered a statement which said Meadway was merely an “advisor” to the Labour Party. The emails show that Labour’s general secretary, Iain McNicol, warned Mills that he was uncomfortable about the statement given to The Times because it also suggested Meadway’s £30,000 salary had been declared when it hadn’t.
When Heat Street rang Mills to discuss this, he accused us of “harrassment” for calling his “personal” mobile phone number and threatened to ring the police if we contacted him again. Mills currently works for Jeremy Corbyn.
Heat Street put the following questions concerning Meadway to McDonnell’s office on Thursday afternoon:
