MP forced to apologise in Parliament after Democracy for Sale investigation

Plus: Musk’s proposed $100m donation to Farage has focused attention on Britain’s broken electoral laws. Now we need action.

Here at Democracy for Sale we believe in journalism that gets results. And with that in mind, I have a couple of important updates that wanted to share with you.

First off, remember Sammy Wilson? The Democratic Unionist MP who failed to declare a paid-for trip to northern Cyprus when tabling parliamentary questions?

Wilson - who is currently being investigated by parliament’s standards commissioner on the back of our investigation with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project earlier this year - had repeatedly declined to respond to this newsletter’s questions but yesterday the East Antrim MP stood up in the Commons and apologised for breaching the code of conduct.

Making a point of order, Wilson said: “I wish to apologise to the House for my failure to declare an interest when tabling a parliamentary question to the secretary of state for business and trade on 26 January 2024.

“When I tabled the question I inadvertently neglected to declare my interest of a fact-finding trip to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, paid for by the Turkish Chamber of Commerce, which was in breach of the rules.

“I apologise to the House for this error and I’m grateful for the parliamentary commissioner for standards for his time and care in rectifying this matter.”

Wilson was one of a number of MPs and peers who went on paid-trips to northern Cyprus coordinated by a London lobbying firm and then subsequently laid down Parliamentary questions without declaring an interest.

The MPs code of conduct states that when asking parliamentary questions “members must indicate any relevant interest on the question form”.

Wilson had 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, also penned opinion pieces arguing that the U.K. should support independence for northern Cyprus.

MPs have been sanctioned in the past for breaking parliamentary lobbying rules after going on paid trips.

The standards commissioner’s report on Wilson’s northern Cyprus rule breaking has yet to be published…

I also wanted to update you on one of Democracy for Sale’s biggest issues - the corrosive role of money in our politics.

On Sunday, I wrote about Britain’s broken election laws, following newspaper reports that Elon Musk was considering donating $100million to Nigel Farage’s Reform party.

My piece seems to have hit a nerve: I’ve since appeared on LBC, the BBC, the Guardian and elsewhere discussing how Musk’s money shows how we need to protect our politics from foreign influence - quickly.

It does seem as if the government might finally be starting to listen. Politicians and civil servants who a week ago would not even countenance a cap on political donations are now reportedly considering just that.

But limiting individual and corporate donations is not enough. There is so much more that needs to be done to safeguard our democracy.

Today I am talking to experts and campaigners about what needs to happen - and have some plans afoot that we will need your help with. Expect to hear more on this one very soon!