Why Allergy UK endorsing products is problematic

1. Like many charities, Allergy UK, whose slogan is “supporting people living with allergy”, owns a trading subsidiary: Allergy Research Limited (“ARL”).
2. ARL, which donates all profits to the charity, makes money via its product endorsement schemes, among other activities.
3. Under the “Seal of Approval” scheme, for example, third party businesses pay ARL to arrange “independent laboratory testing” of their products, in order to identify those (products) “proven to reduce or remove allergens from the indoor environment”. Successful products are permitted to use Allergy UK’s “Seal of Approval” logo for a year, before renewal is required (screen shot in Figure 1).

Figure 1. Allergy UK and product endorsement – “Seal of Approval”: Allergy Research Limited website at 30 April 2024

4. There are at least two problems with the charity endorsing products.
5. First, being paid, Allergy UK’s endorsement isn’t a disinterested one. This creates a possible conflict of interest for the charity, which in turn risks undermining the independence and credibility of its endorsements. What’s more, ARL is the charity’s main funding source.
6. Second, ARL is opaque. The accounts filed at Companies House reveal nothing about how the trading subsidiary actually carries out its activities. Allergy UK’s accounts, too, omit to provide details. How many applications fail, if any? Clarity and transparency around ARL’s product endorsement schemes would only enhance trust and confidence in the approval process. Or is it merely a rubber-stamping exercise?
7. Allergy UK didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Tory MP receives £5k donation from dormant company

1. On 19 April 2024, Rehman Chishti, the Conservative MP for Gillingham and Rainham, registered receipt of a £5k donation by his local Conservative Association. The donor was “Bestway”, registered company number: 02596168.
2. This is the company number for Bestway Ltd – a longtime dormant company, according to Companies House records.
3. A dormant company, by definition, can’t be the source of the £5k donation.
4. So which legal entity was responsible for the donation? The entity should be unambiguously identified by both its registered company name and registered company number.
5. Mr Chishti, who has been an MP continually since 6 May 2010, didn’t respond to requests for comment.
6. Back in 2022, meanwhile, then cabinet minister Brandon Lewis MP registered receipt of a £5k donation from another company in the Bestway group. However, Companies House records showed that company was in a members’ voluntary liquidation (see 18 July 2022 post). It couldn’t have been the donor, therefore. Mr Lewis corrected the register of MPs’ financial interests, after I brought the matter to his attention.

ASA bans ad from Independent British Vape Trade Association

1. On 1 May 2024, advertising regulator the Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) banned a national newspaper ad from the Independent British Vape Trade Association (“IBVTA”).
2. Vaping trade body IBVTA acts as the secretariat for the new all-party parliamentary group (“APPG”) for responsible vaping (see previous post).
3. Needless to say, an ad ban isn’t a good look for the sole funder of the self-styled responsible vaping APPG.
4. The ASA ruling: https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/independent-british-vape-trade-association-a23-1219004-independent-british-vape-trade-association.html.

Peer who is paid adviser to vape manufacturer is also member of responsible vaping APPG

1. An influential peer who is a paid adviser to a major vape manufacturer is also a member of the new all-party parliamentary group (“APPG”) for responsible vaping.
2. Lord Walney is a member of the “advisory board” of HG Innovation, which he describes on the register of lords’ interests as a “vape manufacturer in Hong Kong”. That the role is registered under “Category 2: Remunerated employment etc.” indicates the crossbench peer is an adviser to HG Innovation outside the House.
3. Meanwhile, the former Labour MP is also a member of the responsible vaping APPG (screen shot in Figure 1). Acting as a “focal point for vaping issues within parliament”, the new cross-party group is chaired by Gareth Johnson, the Conservative MP for Dartford.

Figure 1. Lord Walney: responsible vaping APPG website at 23 April 2024

4. Here there is a clear conflict of interest for Lord Walney between an external role as a paid adviser to a vape manufacturer and an internal role as a member of the responsible vaping APPG.
5. Hong Kong-registered HG Innovation Ltd owns elfbar.co.uk, the official ELFBAR UK website (screen shot in Figure 2). ELFBAR is a leading disposable vape brand in the UK.

Figure 2. HG Innovation owns elfbar.co.uk: the official ELFBAR UK website at 23 April 2024

6. Vaping trade body the Independent British Vape Trade Association (“IBVTA”) acts as the group’s secretariat and “pays Capital Counsel to assist them in that role”, according to the APPG register. Capital Counsel is a consultant lobbyist.
7. Capital Counsel also currently acts for IMiracle, among others, according to the statutory Register of Consultant Lobbyists, which is maintained by the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (“ORCL”). ORCL defines consultant lobbying as lobbying of ministers and permanent secretaries on behalf of a third party, in return for payment.
8. Who are IMiracle? Rather, who were IMiracle: it’s the former name of HG Innovation, according to Lord Porter of Spalding’s entry on the register of lords’ interests (screen shot in Figure 3). The Conservative peer, too, has a paid role with HG Innovation. But unlike Lord Walney, Lord Porter of Spalding isn’t a member of the APPG. (The list of members on the APPG website is up to date, IBVTA confirmed. It currently shows three peers: Lord Walney, Lord Lansley and Lord Naseby.)

Figure 3. Lord Porter of Spalding: register of lords’ interests at 23 April 2024

9. Lord Walney is the government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption – a high-profile, unpaid post in the Home Office.
10. Lord Walney didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Angela Rayner MP changes donor of “four tickets with hospitality for the 2023 Football for Change gala” AGAIN

1. On 3 January 2024, I asked a simple question: Who gave Angela Rayner MP “four tickets with hospitality for the 2023 Football for Change gala, total value £800”? The question arose because the Labour MP for Ashton-under-Lyne appeared to have made an error on the register of MPs’ financial interests in relation to either the name of the donor or its status.
2. Ms Rayner named the donor as “Football for Change”, with registered company number: 13779246.
3. Football for Change is a named fund of charity Community Foundations for Lancashire and Merseyside (“CFLM”; registered charity number: 1068887). CFLM administers Football for Change. Football for Change uses the CFLM charity number.
4. Established in 2021, Football for Change “brings together football stars and business leaders with a collective goal to change the lives of young people in some of the most deprived communities in the UK”, according to its website.
5. Meanwhile, Companies House records show company number 13779246 is Football for Change Ltd. For the avoidance of doubt, Football for Change Ltd is a private limited company, with a sole director and owner, Daniel (“Dan”) Hughes.
6. Incorporated on 3 December 2021, Football for Change Ltd has to date filed two years of accounts, both for a dormant company.
7. Football for Change and Football for Change Ltd are separate entities. Thus if the former is indeed the donor, its status is “charity”, registered charity number: 1068887. Alternatively, if the registered donor status is accurate (“company”), the donor is actually Football for Change Ltd.
8. As I asked on 3 January 2024: Which is it?
9. Back then Football for Change and Ms Rayner didn’t respond to requests for comment.
10. On 18 December 2023, I therefore complained to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards about the conduct of Angela Rayner MP in relation to registration of interests.
11. There I identified two problems with Ms Rayner’s entry on the register of MPs’ financial interests, one of which was that I described on 3 January 2024.
12. On 17 January 2024, I received a letter from the Commissioner, Daniel Greenberg. He said it “would not be proportionate” to investigate my complaint. Mr Greenberg added: “Instead, I have decided to resolve this matter using one of the alternative resolutions available to me under Standing Order No.150.” (see 2 February 2024 post)
13. Meanwhile, the register of MPs’ financial interests shows Labour’s deputy leader updated the donation on 17 January 2024, changing the donor status to “charity”, registered charity number: 1068887. For the avoidance of doubt, the senior MP didn’t amend the name of the donor (Football for Change).
14. As I said on 2 February 2024, there is no public record of Mr Greenberg’s intervention and what prompted it. Thus the public is simply unaware of what has happened: both process and outcome are hidden.
15. Following Ms Rayner’s amendment of 17 January 2024, I emailed Rae Brooke, chief executive of CFLM, requesting she confirm CFLM was indeed the donor. By reply, Ms Brooke wrote: “Angela Raynor [sic] attended the gala event as a guest of Football for Change”.
16. On 27 February 2024, I asked Ms Brooke in an email where the £800 for the tickets came from. CFLM or another source? If the latter, I requested she name it.
17. I didn’t receive a response.
18. Which brings me to Ms Rayner’s second change to the donor on the register of MPs’ financial interests. On 13 March 2024, the senior MP changed the donor to “This Generation Communications”, with registered company number: 08544358.
19. Mr Hughes owns and runs This Generation Communications Ltd, a Liverpool-based PR agency that trades as TGC (see 3 January 2024 post).
20. In March 2022, TGC donated a “ticket for Football for Change Chairman’s Lunch, value £500” to Ms Rayner’s shadow cabinet colleague Wes Streeting MP, according to the register of MPs’ financial interests (see 3 January 2024 post).
21. Mr Streeting’s disclosure on the register of MPs’ financial interests had prompted me to press Ms Brooke on the provenance of the £800 for Ms Rayner’s “four tickets with hospitality” – but to no avail (see above).
22. Meanwhile, the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists has opened an investigation into TGC, his office confirmed. This was after I reported the PR agency for conducting what appears to be unregistered consultant lobbying (see 11 January 2024 post).
23. What have we learnt? Ms Rayner doesn’t seem to be very sure about who exactly gave her the freebie. And then there is the Commissioner’s secret intervention, which, by definition, is hidden (see 2 February 2024 post). Although Mr Greenberg considered the matter “closed”, Ms Rayner subsequently changed the donor for a second time. This shows the matter was not resolved.

Conduct Committee publishes report into the conduct of Lord Mann after my complaint to the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards

1. On 27 March 2024, the Conduct Committee published a report into the conduct of Lord Mann after my complaint to the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards.
2. The Commissioner upheld my complaint and found the peer had breached the Code of Conduct.
3. However, Lord Mann appealed the Commissioner’s decision. His appeal was considered by the Conduct Committee, a lords select committee that reviews and oversees the Codes of Conduct and the work of the House of Lords Commissioner for Standards.
4. The Conduct Committee rejected Lord Mann’s appeal. Here’s its report: https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/lords-commissioner-for-standards/conduct-of-lord-mann-hl-paper-95.pdf.

Main funder of polar regions APPG is still linked to Russia

1. On 23 November 2022, I revealed that the main funder of the all-party parliamentary group (“APPG”) for the polar regions, the Mamont Foundation, is a Guernsey-registered foundation linked to Russia.
2. In November 2022, the Mamont Foundation was renamed the Cryosphere Foundation, according to the Guernsey registry. It continues to be controlled by Dr Frederik Paulsen, the Swedish billionaire founder and owner of Marussia Beverages. Headquartered in Switzerland, the Marussia Beverages group is a multinational producer and distributor of spirits, wines and sakes.
3. The latest APPG register shows the polar regions APPG received £50k (27 February 2023) and £7.4k (27 October 2023) from the Cryosphere Foundation.
4. Marussia Beverages still makes a vodka in Russia, Mamont Vodka, which it distributes around the world, including the UK via Marussia Beverages UK Ltd. “Mamont” is Russian for mammoth. The UK-registered company website is clear: Mamont Vodka is linked to the Mamont Foundation and has been since 2007 (see 23 November 2022 post).

Figure 1. Mamont Vodka: Marussia Beverages group website at 11 March 2024

5. Mamont Vodka has recently vanished from the UK website, however. When I rang the company for clarification, I was told the Siberian vodka is “currently out of stock”. By contrast, the Marussia Beverages group website shows it continues to produce Mamont Vodka (screen shot in Figure 1). What’s more, the Amazon UK website still sells the spirit (screen shot in Figure 2).

Figure 2. Mamont Vodka: Amazon UK website at 11 March 2024

6. Companies House records show Dr Paulsen is a “person with significant control” of Marussia Beverages UK Ltd.
7. On 24 February 2022, meanwhile, Russia invaded Ukraine. Yet Marussia Beverages continues to produce Mamont Vodka in Siberia, Russia and distribute it around the world. Thus Marussia Beverages is helping Russia finance its illegal war against neighbour Ukraine.
8. James Gray, the Conservative MP for North Wiltshire, chairs the APPG. The senior MP commented on my initial findings (see 23 November 2022 post). I therefore went back to him for this article, asking the following question: Why is the APPG still accepting funding from the Cryosphere Foundation when Marussia Beverages continues to operate in Russia?
9. By reply, Mr Gray said in an email: “As per our statement to the same request last year, there is no financial relationship between the Cryosphere Foundation and the Mamont Vodka / Marussia Beverages.”
10. But that wasn’t what the senior MP told me for the first article (see 23 November 2022 post). Further, it was still the Mamont Foundation back then.

Charity Commission response to latest findings on Mohamed Al Fayed’s charity

1. In response to the latest findings on Mohamed Al Fayed’s charity (see 6 March 2024 post), a spokesperson for the Charity Commission said in an email: “We are aware of potential concerns at the Al-Fayed Charitable Foundation and are assessing information to determine whether or not this is a matter for the Commission.”

The Guardian adds credit to article

1. On 7 March 2024, The Guardian added a credit to me in an article published on 18 June 2023 (“Tory peer faces questions over links to cryptocurrency lobbying firm”).
2. Here’s the amended article: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jun/18/tory-peer-james-wharton-working-for-crypto-lobbying-firm-northpoint-strategy.
3. The report picked up my investigation into the UK Cryptoasset Business Council (see 3 January 2023 post).
4. I’m grateful to Elisabeth Ribbans, the Guardian’s readers’ editor, for resolving my complaint.

What now for Mohamed Al Fayed’s charity?

1. On 29 February 2024, the Daily Mail newspaper was first to report that Camilla Fayed, Mohamed Al Fayed’s daughter, has been charged with robbery after allegedly ordering her bodyguards to steal her brother Omar Fayed’s phone at their father’s mansion (“Fayed daughter charged over brother’s robbery”).
2. The public register of charities shows both Camilla and Omar are trustees of the Al-Fayed [sic] Charitable Foundation (“ACF”), the charity set up and chaired by Mr Al Fayed, the former owner of Harrods. The third trustee is Heini Fayed, the late tycoon’s wife.
3. On 6 September 2023, I revealed that ACF was making regular donations to Harrods up to Mr Al Fayed’s death, according to its accounts. In response to my findings, regulator the Charity Commission intervened at ACF (see 26 September 2023 post).
4. Camilla’s charging raises two questions. First, will both she and Omar remain as trustees of the charity? Second, what is the future of ACF?
5. ACF didn’t respond to requests for comment.