You might think that with massive reputational damage Labour suffered after freebiegate/cronygate last year Lord Alli would keep his head down. Not so…
Guido hears that the Labour peer’s annual summer party for friends, Labourites, and luvvies alike went ahead last weekend on the 26th of the month. While the fiscal situation deteriorates it sounds like Labour party figures were having a great time at the media bash which featured:
- Dodgems.
- Fairground.
- Ferris wheel.
- Two swimming pools. One indoor, outdoor, both heated…
- Hot air balloon.
The party took place at Alli’s £16 million mansion in Kent. Hundreds of people were in attendance – unfortunately a torrential downpour caused the dodgems and fairground to cease operation. Dose of reality there…
A media source tells Guido activity on the dance floor was going until at least 2 a.m. The party was kept quiet this time round. Can’t think why…
Hacks have enquired once again at the government’s Lobby briefing about Sue Gray. Nada…
After Gudio published photos of Gray and Labour donor Lord Alli scheming in the Dean Street Townhouse last week journalists are pushing Downing Street – will she be paid this year, is she being paid currently? Crickets from No 10…
Politico said last Friday that “multiple figures” who were supposed to work with Gray in her new position “now strongly suspect she’ll never take up the role.” As Guido reported a full month ago…
Gray’s “short break” has already gone on for six weeks. At least she’s expecting to score a seat with Waheed in the Lords…
At the Dean Street Townhouse today two guests enjoyed a granita-style lunch. At least she doesn’t have to declare it…
Hilariously Angela Rayner has just declared yet another £3,550 of free clothes from Lord Alli in the parliamentary register. They were previously declared as “office support.” Can’t stop the gravy train…
The Lords Commissioner Standards has completed an investigation into Lord Alli’s potential breaches of conduct. It concludes there are four breaches:
“Finally, while I consider each individual breach of the Code to be minor, I have found there to be four breaches in total, and have therefore recommended that Lord Alli write a letter of apology to the Chair of the Conduct Committee, Baroness Manningham-Buller.”
Lord Alli’s apology:
“I am writing to you today to offer my apology for my breach of conduct by not registering my interests correctly. I will endeavour to keep to the Code of Conduct at all times to avoid such circumstances again.”
The breaches are explained:
- “Lord Alli should have included in his entry on the Register of Lords’ Interests his position as an unremunerated director of The Charlie Parsons Foundation, as well as his trusteeship. By not doing so he was in breach of paragraphs 14(a) and 17 of the Code of Conduct.”
- “I find that Lord Alli’s late registration of his interest as an unremunerated director of MAC (BVI) Limited breached paragraph 17 of the Code of Conduct.”
- “I find that Lord Alli should have maintained his entry in category 3 of the Register of Lords’ Interests as he remains on the Companies House register as a Person with Significant Control of Silvergate BP Bidco Limited.”
- “Similarly, I find that he should have maintained his registration in category 4(a) of his shareholding amounting to a controlling interest. By removing these register entries prematurely Lord Alli breached paragraphs 14(a) and 17 of the Code of Conduct.”
Read the full report below:
Continue reading “Lord Alli Apologises After Breaching Lords Standards”
Of all the plum jobs in the Commons, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee (FASC) is the sweetest. It gives the incumbent a strong media platform, endless global jollies, and the chance to quiz David Lammy, which should be nothing if not entertaining…
When Emily Thornberry was brutally but hilariously binned from the incoming Labour Government, she launched a hardcore lobbying campaign to become FASC chairman. Lady Nugee ‘put the thumbscrews on’, said one Labour MP, pressuring her parliamentary colleagues to back her and help her recover from the embarrassment of not getting a front bench role. There’s a little local difficulty however, which is being talked about on the Labour benches…
Thornberry is best friends with scandal-wrecked Lord Alli. She lived on the same street as him in the 1990s, and is credited with actually introducing Alli to the party in the first place: ‘Lord Alli was encouraged to join Labour by his next-door neighbour, Emily Thornberry‘. As Guido revealed, Alli has some exotic foreign policy preferences, joining figures such as Jeremy Corbyn as one of the very few British parliamentarians to go into bat for – checks notes – Bashar al Assad. As he boasted himself in a Lords debate: “I have visited Syria on a number of occasions and held talks with President Assad on several.”
And which Shadow Foreign Secretary caused outrage in 2018 when they praised Assad’s “depth and breadth of support” which is greater “than is recognised in the west”? Only Lady Nugee herself. An eyebrow raising coincidence making Labour MPs nervous about her chairmanship…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”
