The House of Commons commissioner for standards has found Claudia Webbe to have breached the MP code of conduct after failing to declare payments she receives for continuing her work as an Islington councillor. In addition to being an MP 100 miles away in Leicester…

Webbe failed to register eight payments of her monthly £876.56 councillor allowances within the 28-day window required. While Webbe has apologised for the breach, her written excuse filled evidence is eyebrow-raising. She chose to deliver an abridged history of the UK’s covid fight by way of an explanation for the delayed registering:

“I would make the following observations on 31st January 2020, the first Covid-19 cases were reported in the UK; On March 5, 2020, the first Covid-19 death was recorded in the UK; On the 12th March 2020, the risk posed by COVID-19 was increased from moderate to high; on 16th March 2020, 20 the Prime Minister advised all persons in the UK against non-essential travel and contact with others; on the 26th March 2020, the UK Government issued a legally enforceable stay at home order to all persons in the UK (otherwise known as a national lockdown; on the 18th June the Secretary of State for Health raised concerns about Leicester, with a focus on my Leicester East constituency; on the 17th July the Government ordered further, restrictive, legally enforceable measures covering the whole of the Leicester City area.

As a new member of parliament, I gave my maiden speech on the 9th March 2020. Further, by the time of the national lockdown I had not yet appointed anything close to a full complement of staff consequently my own workload was huge and I was working seven days a week with less than 4 hours’ sleep a day and still learning all the rules and workings of parliament.”

Quite a comprehensive chronological write-up for someone so busy with her ongoing court case…

Read the commissioner’s findings in full below: