UK government publishes register of interest after Democracy for Sale story

My Post Office scoop yesterday led to UK government agency (finally) publishing a register of ex-Fujitsu UK chair's interests, but there is much more we need to know

Some good news. Journalism can still work. Sort of.

Yesterday’s newsletter was all about Simon Blagden, a major Tory donor who was a senior figure at Fujitsu UK during much of the Horizon Post Office scandal.

It could be a parable of how modern Britain works: after Blagden left Fujitsu, Tory culture minister Nadine Dorries made him chair of a government agency called Building Digital UK. (Salary: £80,000 PA for two days a week.)

Blagden’s new agency proceeded to hand out almost £400m in government contracts to a broadband company called CityFibre….who Blagden had been a paid lobbyist for directly before being given a plum government job.

Blagden had also failed to declare any entries on Building Digital UK’s register of interests.

So I asked the government. ‘Why would the chair of a public body not have to declare donations made to the governing party?’

I got no answer for more than seven hours. Then - after I had published yesterday’s story - BDUK’s register of interests magically updated “to avoid any perception of conflicts”.

Which is great to see. Only a year and a half after becoming chair, Simon Blagden has declared interests.

So we can all go home happy?

Not exactly.

If you read the governance code on public appointments (ok, you don’t have to) you’ll see that for a government appointee - like Simon Blagden - there should be a declaration if they’ve made political donations in the last five years.

But has Building Digital UK done this? Well its brand new register says nothing about Blagden’s £400,000+ donations to the Conservative party - which includes £3,488 donated to Rother Valley Tory MP Alexander Stafford just last month.

The government’s other transparency declarations for Blagden seem to be lacking important information, too.

The UK Health Security Agency - which he is a member of - mentions political donations but says nothing about Larkspur International, a lobbying firm that Blagden is a director of and whose clients have also won government contracts.

The slapdash way these registers of interests are maintained - or not maintained - is symptomatic of a political culture in Britain where transparency is to be avoided and access and influence goes to those with money and power.

There are many questions unanswered arising from yesterday’s story - questions I will continue to investigate in the coming days, weeks and months.

But I do need your help to do this.

If you haven’t already, please consider signing up to become a paid subscriber. Your support lets me do more work. Thanks!