Tory ex-ministers deny charging fee for Brexit-related advice is wrong

Three former Conservative cabinet ministers have denied any wrongdoing after being caught on camera offering to receive money in exchange for advising a fictitious Chinese company about the UK government’s approach to Brexit.

An investigation by Channel 4’s Dispatches and the Sunday Times secretly recorded Lord Lansley, and senior Tory MPs Andrew Mitchell and Peter Lilley, in meetings at a Mayfair hotel they believed were with a Chinese firm.

In the documentary, to be aired on Sunday night, Lansley, a former health secretary, says he will provide “intelligence” to the Chinese company, and would charge €5,000 (£4,400) a day.

He also suggests the firm employs him through his wife’s firm, Low, apparently to avoid scrutiny.

“If you have a contract with Low then basically I come with Low. So if you had a contract separately with me it would have to appear separately on the transparency register as a contract with you. But if it’s with Low then its covered by the Low contract,” he says.

Mitchell, who was international development secretary under David Cameron, says, “my constituents don’t mind what I’m paid”, and suggests he is willing to work up to 10 weeks a year for private clients alongside being an MP.

Lilley, a former deputy leader of the Conservative party, tells the undercover reporters he sits on two advisory groups with influence over the Brexit process.

The revelations are likely to intensify the sense of crisis at the top of the Tory party, with MPs increasingly concerned about the damage being sustained to the Conservative brand from splits over Brexit and health spending, and the fumbled recent reshuffle.

George Freeman, former chair of the prime minister’s policy board at No 10, tweeted that the Sunday Times front page, featuring “salon sleaze, spin and vendetta”, were precisely what the party doesn’t need, adding that the prime minister “deserves better”.

Sir Alistair Graham, former chair of the committee on standards in public life, told the newspaper the behaviour displayed in the footage was unacceptable. “To take advantage of this difficult time and confusion to make extra money doesn’t demonstrate a great deal of concern for the public interest,” he said.

“Giving some special help to one company when that information is not generally available ... is just not acceptable.”

The first of the Nolan principles of public life is that “holders of public office should act solely in terms of the public interest” and the second is that “holders of public office must avoid placing themselves under any obligation to people or organisations that might try inappropriately to influence them in their work. They should not act or take decisions in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends. They must declare and resolve any interests and relationships.”

The documentary was initially pulled from transmission last week amid a string of complaints from the three men, prompting an emergency review involving Channel 4’s chief executive, Alex Mahon, and the director of television, Ian Katz.

Lilley accused Channel 4 of a “tawdry attempt at entrapment” and insisted he had done nothing wrong. Mitchell said he was “totally innocent” and suggested that he had launched his own investigation and alerted MI5 after suspecting the approach was fake.

Insiders said that the final decision to delay, by Channel 4 and the Sunday Times, had been taken because of warnings about the potential impact of airing the programme on the health of Lansley, who is being treated for cancer.

By then, the former ministers had also briefed their version of events to last week’s Mail on Sunday. That front page account outlined how the three former ministers were asked to come to the Mayfair property and were greeted by a woman named Fei Liu, who claimed she represented Chinese millionaires.

In the coverage, Mitchell claimed he had realised “within minutes of arriving at the meeting” that he was the target of a sting. He said he had made clear that he could not lobby and would only take up work with the clearance of parliamentary authorities.

“Like many other politicians, in addition to my work as a backbench MP I have a few outside interests. I am paid for some, but not all,” he said. “There are some who argue that MPs should do no outside work at all.”

Mitchell told the Sunday Times his outside business interests, paid and unpaid, were “fully registered in the House of Commons register of members’ interest” and that he abided by the letter and the spirit of the rules governing the business interests of MPs.

Lansley said: “Sir Alistair Graham is entitled to his opinion, but he is wrong... I made it clear in these meetings, which took place while I was undergoing cancer treatment, that I would apply the terms of the House of Lords code in any business relationship; and that this would be written into any contract that I entered into.

“No privileged access, insider information, lobbying activity, parliamentary advice or services were offered.”

Lilley insisted: “I have not undertaken any venture which would involve me breaking the codes of conduct referenced nor the Nolan principles. I repeatedly made it crystal clear I would not use confidential information. I possess no such information. If I did I wouldn’t make it available to anyone.”