Has John Whittingdale MP breached the Ministerial Code?

1. Recent disclosures by John Whittingdale MP, the former gambling minister, on the register of MPs’ financial interests suggest he may have breached the Ministerial Code.
2. Mr Whittingdale was gambling minister until 16 September 2021. Since then he’s secured another job – with AlphaSights Ltd. On 26 January 2022, he received his second payment from the firm: £1k “for advice on UK consumer issues”.
3. Mr Whittingdale says nothing on the register of MPs’ financial interests about having sought the advice of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (“ACOBA”) in relation to this paid job with AlphaSights Ltd.
4. Before taking up any new paid or unpaid appointment outside of government, MPs who ceased to hold ministerial office within the previous two years must apply for advice from ACOBA.
5. Therefore, Mr Whittingdale was required to apply for advice from ACOBA in relation to his work for AlphaSights Ltd. He was also required to state on the register of MPs’ financial interests that he’d sought the advice of ACOBA.
6. What’s more, I can’t find an advice letter from ACOBA to the MP about the role on its website. (ACOBA routinely publishes its advice letters on its website.)
7. Failure to apply for advice from ACOBA as a former minister in Mr Whittingdale’s circumstances represents a breach of the Ministerial Code.
8. A second new disclosure by Mr Whittingdale on the register of MPs’ financial interests leads to another possible breach of the Ministerial Code.
9. On 20 January 2022, he received £6k from gambling trade body the Betting and Gaming Council (“BGC”) for a speech to its 2021 annual general meeting (“AGM”).
10. I refer to ACOBA guidance “Guidance on making an application to ACOBA – Ministers”, section 13, which states: “The Committee does not normally regard ‘one-off’ activities such as speeches, broadcasts, or newspaper articles as ‘appointments or employment’ under the Rules and therefore requiring approval.”
11. Presumably section 13 explains why Mr Whittingdale didn’t apply for advice from ACOBA in relation to his work for BGC.
12. Nevertheless section 13 goes on to say: “It is nonetheless expected that, in undertaking such activities, individuals should not draw on any privileged information that was available to you when you were in office.”
13. Meanwhile, BGC issued a series of tweets during his speech at the AGM, one of which quoted the former gambling minister as commenting about gambling advertising: “The evidence that it leads to problem gambling is pretty much non-existent. The assessments I saw showed no linkage.” (screen shot in Figure 1)

Figure 1. Betting and Gaming Council: tweet dated 20 January 2022

14. “The assessments I saw” clearly refers to Mr Whittingdale’s time as gambling minister. Therefore, “the assessments I saw” appear to represent “privileged information that was available to you when you were in office”.
15. Even if Mr Whittingdale didn’t disclose “privileged information” at the BGC 2021 AGM, it beggars belief he thought it appropriate to take the gig so soon after serving as gambling minister.
16. Gambling news websites eagerly reported the MP’s favourable comments – note “Former Minister Whittingdale issues black market warning at BGC AGM”, for example (screen shot in Figure 2). As you can see, BGC retweeted the positive report.

Figure 2. Betting and Gaming Council: retweet dated 22 January 2022

17. By happy chance, BGC continues to campaign on the dangers of unlicensed (black-market) gambling operators. Yet I recently demonstrated that the separation between the regulated and unregulated gambling industry is blurred, despite what BGC claims (see 5 December 2021 post).
18. Mr Whittingdale didn’t respond to requests for comment.
19. On 16 August 2021, I exclusively revealed that the daughter of then gambling minister Mr Whittingdale works for the lobbying firm acting for Camelot, the commercial company that runs the National Lottery.

Local “charity” funds Tory MPs’ visit to Bangladesh

1. Last month, two Tory MPs visited Bangladesh in a trip funded by a local organisation that calls itself a charity.
2. However, there is no charity with that name registered with the Charity Commission. Nor does the organisation disclose a registered charity number on its website.
3. The Zi Foundation spent £4.5k each on Paul Bristow MP and Tom Hunt MP for their visit to Bangladesh 20-24 January 2022, according to the register of MPs’ financial interests. There both MPs omit to disclose a registered charity number.
4. The Zi Foundation – slogan: “Make A Better Life” – styles itself as a charity on its website (screen shot in Figure 1).

Figure 1. The Zi Foundation is a “charity”: Zi Foundation website at 16 February 2022

5. Further, Mr Bristow, MP for Peterborough, refers to the Zi Foundation as a “Peterborough-based charity” when recently talking about the visit to local newspaper the Peterborough Telegraph (“MPs given the chance to see how a Peterborough charity are changing lives for the better in Bangladesh”, 3 February 2022: http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/people/mps-given-the-chance-to-see-how-a-peterborough-charity-are-changing-lives-for-the-better-in-bangladesh-3552876).
6. Zillur Hussain, who founded the Zi Foundation in 2012, accompanied the MPs on their visit to Bangladesh. I tried on several occasions to contact Mr Hussain for comment via the form on the website, but to no avail. Each time I clicked the “send now” button, the following text was displayed: “There was an error trying to send your message. Please try again later.”
7. Both Mr Bristow and Mr Hunt didn’t respond to requests for comment.
8. Hitherto I’ve written extensively about Mr Bristow, his wife and sister-in-law in relation to their activities as lobbyists (see 14 December 2020 post and references therein).

Steven Gerrard, gambling and the suspended Twitter account

1. A Twitter account linked to former England footballer Steven Gerrard, with over 600k followers, has breached both the advertising rules and Twitter rules. Twitter has now suspended the account.
2. Twitter account Gerrard8FanPage is opaque. It is unclear who exactly is behind the account, as the biography shows (screen shot in Figure 1).

Figure 1. Gerrard8FanPage: Twitter biography at 6 June 2021

3. What is the relationship, if any, between former Liverpool star Mr Gerrard and the account?
4. As you can see, the Twitter biography does NOT say the account has nothing to do with Mr Gerrard. Further, it links to his personal charity, the Steven Gerrard Foundation (“SGF”) (see 14 December 2021 post).
5. Last summer, I asked SGF in emails whether the Twitter account is officially linked to the charity and/or Mr Gerrard. SGF didn’t respond to requests for comment.
6. I first complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) about Gerrard8FanPage in June last year in relation to its tweet dated 3 June 2021 – an undisclosed marketing communication for gambling firm Scout & Co (Malta), which uses the trading name FanTeam in the UK (screen shot in Figure 2).

Figure 2. Gerrard8FanPage: tweet dated 3 June 2021

7. I complained again to the ASA last month: the tweet dated 9 January 2022 appears to be an undisclosed marketing communication for a betting tips Telegram group (screen shot in Figure 3).

Figure 3. Gerrard8FanPage: tweet dated 9 January 2022

8. The Twitter biography states: “Followers must be 18+ / Be Gamble Aware”. This information, of course, is consistent with the account promoting gambling firms.
9. It is important to note that there is (was) nothing to stop under-18s accessing the content published by Gerrard8FanPage.
10. In response to my second complaint, the ASA said in an email: “Based on the information you provided, we considered that the ad was likely to break the advertising rules we apply. Therefore, we contacted Twitter for their assistance and they have confirmed that the account has now been suspended for breaking their terms of service, thereby removing the ad to which you objected.”
11. On 16 February 2022, the ASA formally recorded the case on its website as one of that week’s “informally resolved” complaints.
12. At date of publication Gerrard8FanPage remains suspended on Twitter.
13. There needs to be clarity and transparency around the Twitter account and its relationship, if any, with Mr Gerrard.

The Mail on Sunday: “Seconds out… now for a round of Labour cronyism”

1. On 20 February 2022, The Mail on Sunday newspaper exclusively reported that I was responsible for the complaint about the boxing all-party parliamentary group (“APPG”) that led the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards to open her investigation into the group and its chair, Labour MP Chris Evans (screen shot in Figure 1).

Figure 1. The Mail on Sunday (20 February 2022)

2. Hitherto I haven’t written about the case – and won’t say anything more until the Commissioner publishes her report into the investigation.

BEIS awards £308k takeover intelligence contract to firm part-owned by investor linked to China

1. On 19 January 2022, the Daily Telegraph Business section reported on its front page that a data intelligence firm partly owned by senior Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat has won a government contract to scrutinise foreign takeovers of UK companies, under new laws to control Chinese and Russian influence (“Ministers give £300k takeover intelligence contract to firm part-owned by Tory MP”). Here I reveal that an investor linked to China is another shareholder in the firm.
2. In June 2020, Mr Tugendhat filed amended 2019 accounts for his firm Lashkar & Co Ltd at Companies House, after I’d spotted errors in the original accounts (see 10 June 2020 post).
3. The Investment Security Unit (“ISU”), part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (“BEIS”), administers the National Security and Investment Act (the “Act”), which came into force on 4 January 2022.
4. Companies and entities making acquisitions of control in one of 17 defined sensitive sectors of the UK economy must notify and receive approval from ISU before completing the transaction. The government deems the 17 sectors those most likely to give rise to national security risks.
5. ISU has awarded a £308.25k contract to Business Funding Research Ltd (“BFR”), which trades as Beauhurst. BFR will be involved in the development of a corporate data screening platform for ISU.
6. The register of MPs’ financial interests shows that Mr Tugendhat, who is chair of the influential foreign affairs committee, has a shareholding in BFR worth over £70k.
7. Mr Tugendhat is also co-founder and co-chair of the China Research Group (“CRG”) of Tory MPs, which was established in April 2020 “to promote debate and fresh thinking about how Britain should respond to the rise of China”.
8. As both chair of the Commons committee and co-chair of CRG, Mr Tugendhat has repeatedly warned about Chinese influence on both UK companies and universities, among other areas.
9. Meanwhile, Companies House records reveal that billionaire Nicolas Berggruen is another shareholder in BFR, via offshore company Berggruen Holdings Ltd, which is registered in the British Virgin Islands.
10. Mr Berggruen as Berggruen Holdings Ltd is also an investor in another tech company for which Mr Tugendhat registers a shareholding on the register of MPs’ financial interests: Juliand Digital Ltd, which trades as Zaptic. Again, Mr Berggruen’s holding is disclosed in Companies House filings.
11. Mr Berggruen is chair and founder of thinktank the Berggruen Institute, “which addresses fundamental political and cultural questions in our rapidly changing world”. Established in 2010, its global headquarters are in Los Angeles, US.
12. In 2018, the Berggruen Institute set up the Berggruen China Center at one of China’s leading universities: Peking University, in Beijing. The Berggruen Institute “has committed $25.5m to establish” the Berggruen China Center (screen shot in Figure 1). Yes, $25.5m.

Figure 1. The Berggruen Institute “has committed $25.5m to establish” the Berggruen China Center: Berggruen Institute website at 1 February 2022

13. “Intellectual themes for researchers and visiting scholars [at the Berggruen China Center] focus on frontier technologies and society – specifically in artificial intelligence, the microbiome, and gene editing as well as issues involving global governance and globalization,” the Berggruen Institute website says.
14. Artificial intelligence is one of the 17 sensitive sectors for which the government requires notification of ISU under the new Act.
15. What’s more, the Berggruen China Center is “engaged with not only academic communities but also industry stakeholders” (screen shot in Figure 2). In other words, the Chinese institution is at the interface between academia and industry.

Figure 2. The Berggruen China Center is “engaged with not only academic communities but also industry stakeholders”: Berggruen Institute website at 1 February 2022

16. That Mr Berggruen is linked to China is therefore a matter of public record. The billionaire has via his eponymous thinktank made a significant investment in one of its leading universities.
17. The potential threat to the UK’s national security of the rise of China is one of the main reasons the government created ISU. It is therefore ironic ISU is using the services of BFR, a firm partly owned by an investor linked to China, to conduct detailed due diligence on foreign takeovers of UK companies.
18. Equally, it is ironic Mr Tugendhat, a vocal critic of China’s activities, owns shares in two tech companies where Mr Berggruen is a fellow investor.
19. There is no suggestion anyone has done anything illegal.
20. Both BEIS and Mr Tugendhat didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Lord Marland’s charity received £4.1k donation from his dissolved company

1. Tory peer Lord Marland, a former minister, is chair of the board of trustees of an eponymous charity that received a £4.1k donation from his dissolved company.
2. On 21 January 2022, the Daily Telegraph reported on its front page Lord Marland’s advice to the beleaguered prime minister (“Cut ‘fluffy stuff’ to survive, ally urges Johnson”). “Millionaire businessman” Jonathan Peter Marland has been “a friend and informal adviser to Mr Johnson [Boris Johnson, the prime minister] for more than a decade”, according to the newspaper.
3. On 1 December 2021, the prime minister appointed Lord Marland as a trustee of the British Museum, where former chancellor George Osborne is chair. The peer and the then chancellor served in the same government. Cosy!
4. Lord Marland brings to the museum’s board “extensive business acumen, international leadership and political expertise”, the government press release says.
5. As well as the British Museum, Lord Marland is a trustee of several other charities, the register of lords’ interests shows.
6. I refer to the latest accounts for The J P Marland Charitable Trust (“the charity”), made up to 1 October 2020.
7. There the “related parties” note says: “During the year the trust also received £4.1k (2019 – £NIL) from Tricouni Brand Limited of which Lord Marland is a director of the company.”
8. Meanwhile, Companies House records show that Tricouni Brand Limited was dissolved on 10 September 2019.
9. The latest accounts for the charity are for the year from 2 October 2019 until 1 October 2020. Tricouni Brand Limited was therefore dissolved before the charity’s financial reporting period.
10. After dissolution, of course, a company ceases to legally exist. So how could the charity have received a £4.1k donation from a non-existent company?
11. Lord Marland, who set up the charity in 1995, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Daily Mirror cites affiliate that markets unlicensed gambling operators

1. On 9 February 2022, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported the results of an alleged analysis of the numbers of social media followers for football clubs in the Premier League (“Man Utd top of league for social media”):

Figure 1. “Man Utd top of league for social media”: Daily Mirror (9 February 2022)

2. Here’s a close-up:

Figure 2. “Man Utd top of league for social media” – close-up: Daily Mirror (9 February 2022)

3. The analysis was carried out by Betpack, which the Mirror describes as a “betting firm”. This is wrong.
4. Betpack isn’t a gambling operator; rather, it’s a gambling affiliate. Thus Betpack markets gambling operators. Unlike operators, affiliates aren’t licensed by the Gambling Commission, the UK gambling regulator.
5. Like affiliate Betpal (see 5 December 2021 post), Betpack is opaque: at date of publication again its website (betpack.com) fails to show any details of the company behind it.
6. And like Betpal, Betpack is marketing unlicensed (black-market) gambling operators – those not licensed by the Gambling Commission. Lots of them.

Figure 3. Slots N Bets: Betpack website at 9 February 2022

7. Here are just two examples: Slots N Bets (screen shot in Figure 3) and Win Diggers Casino (screen shot in Figure 4). As you can see, both listings state: “United Kingdom Accepted”.

Figure 4. Win Diggers Casino: Betpack website at 9 February 2022

8. As I say, there are many more black-market operators on the Betpack website.
9. Why is the Mirror giving credence to, and a platform for, an affiliate that markets unlicensed gambling operators?

GamCare amends Camelot accreditation

1. Charity GamCare has now amended Camelot’s entry in the list of assured businesses on the Safer Gambling Standard website, after my emails (see 25 January 2022 post).
2. There the charity has added the following information: “Assessment renewal in progress from December 2021.” (screen shot in Figure 1)

Figure 1. GamCare amends Camelot accreditation: Safer Gambling Standard website at 31 January 2022

3. I asked GamCare in emails why it’d only begun its re-assessment of Camelot upon expiry of accreditation, not before. But answer there came none.
4. Meanwhile, regulator the Gambling Commission has said it intends to announce this month (February 2022) the winner of its competition to award the fourth licence to operate The National Lottery.
5. That incumbent Camelot is widely perceived to be among the favourites of the four bidders only makes the lack of clarity and transparency around GamCare’s handling of the operator in relation to the Safer Gambling Standard more unsatisfactory.
6. What we do know, however, is that Camelot’s accreditation has expired.