DUP MP Sammy Wilson under investigation over north Cyprus lobbying

Exclusive: Standards watchdog launches probe following reports on Democracy for Sale

Westminster’s standards watchdog has launched an investigation into Democratic Unionist Party MP Sammy Wilson over an alleged breach of lobbying rules, Democracy for Sale can reveal.

The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards’s probe follows reports in this newsletter that Wilson had failed to declare an interest when asking parliamentary questions after taking an all-expenses paid trip to the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TNRC).

The MPs’ and Lords’ codes of conduct state that when asking parliamentary questions “members must indicate any relevant interest on the question form”.

But the DUP’s Wilson, alongside two Conservative MPs who left Parliament in June and two members of the House of Lords, failed to do this when tabling parliamentary questions that appeared to support northern Cyprus’s interests, a recent investigation published by Democracy for Sale and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project found.

The UK does not recognise northern Cyprus, which has only been recognised by Turkey since the island was divided five decades ago. 

Wilson and his parliamentary colleagues' free trips were organised by Freedom and Fairness for Northern Cyprus, a pro-TRNC advocacy group based in the UK, and were seemingly designed to build sympathy for northern Cyprus among British politicians. The campaign was coordinated by College Green, a lobbying firm run by former Vote Leave staffer Thomas Borwick that this newsletter has previously reported on.

The standards commissioner is investigating Wilson’s “failure to declare an interest when tabling a parliamentary question,” according to the watchdog’s website. 

Wilson has put down more than half a dozen questions about northern Cyprus including about Greek troop numbers in southern Cyprus and direct flights from the UK to north Cyprus, which is currently prohibited. The DUP MP, who has sat in the Commons since 2005, also penned opinion pieces arguing that the U.K. should support independence for northern Cyprus.

Records show that Wilson did declare his trip to northern Cyprus in January on his register of interests, but failed to declare an interest in the subject before querying the government in parliament. 

The watchdog’s probe follows a complaint from the Scottish National Party’s former Westminster leader Ian Blackford, who sits on the Committee on Standards in Public Life.

“Parliamentarians are supposed to act with integrity and honesty. MPs and Lords not declaring their interests like this is the exact opposite of that,” Blackford said. The former SNP has also complained to the Lords’ standards commissioner, who is still considering whether to open an investigation.

Questions have previously been raised about the ethics of foreign-funded trips and lobbying practices in Parliament. 

Political transparency advocates have argued that current standards are insufficient to prevent potential conflicts of interest and that there should be stronger requirements for MPs to disclose financial backing for foreign trips, particularly when it involves contentious territories such as Northern Cyprus.

The standards commissioner has sanctioned MPs in the past for breaking parliamentary lobbying rules after going on paid trips. 

In 2018, the DUP’s Ian Paisley Junior was suspended from the Commons for 30 days after lobbying on behalf of Sri Lanka after taking an undeclared trip to the country worth up to £100,000.

The DUP and Sammy Wilson have yet to respond to requests for comment.