Marcus Fysh has this morning received a clip around the ear over inaccurate registration of financial interests. That Standards Commissioner found that:

• A registration of changes to London Wessex Ltd, Wessex Investments Proprietary Ltd and London Wessex Brands Ltd, in which Mr Fysh had registered shares, was not made within the 28 days required (the changes were registered 234, 148 and 140 days late respectively);

• Mr Fysh did not register his unpaid directorships of these three companies and of two others in the Wessex Investment Proprietary Group, which later became Samfire Proprietary Ltd; and

• Mr Fysh failed to declare his and his brother’s unpaid directorships to the two select committees when he joined them.

Fysh, however, challenged the findings, arguing that his directorships “are not capable of having any influence on what I might say or do as a Member, have not done so and could not reasonably be perceived to be at risk of doing so”. After Fysh objected to the findings, the Standards Committee had to step in, with a curt conclusion…

“The Committee does not believe that Mr Fysh acted in bad faith. He exercised his right as a Member to express disagreement with the Commissioner’s interpretation of the rules and bring the matter before the Committee. However, it also notes that Mr Fysh adopted a deprecatory and, at points, patronising tone towards the Commissioner and the Registrar which was unacceptable, as were his unfounded questions about their objectivity.”

The Standards Committee found Fysh “breached paragraph 14 of the Code of Conduct in all three respects.” The recommended punishment is for him to make an apology on the floor of the House for both the non-registrations and non-declarations by means of a personal statement…