New minister Tom Tugendhat registers Onward role

1. Tom Tugendhat, like fellow minister Claire Coutinho (see previous post), is a member of the “advisory board” of thinktank Onward. But unlike Ms Coutinho, he has registered the role on the register of MPs’ financial interests.
2. There Mr Tugendhat, the new security minister, makes the disclosure under category 8, “miscellaneous”, where he says the post is unpaid.
3. The Guide to the Rules relating to the Conduct of Members, chapter 1, “Registration of Members’ Financial Interests” tells MPs to register under category 8 several interests, including “any other interest, if the Member considers that it might reasonably be thought by others to influence his or her actions or words as a Member in the same way as a financial interest.” One of the examples given is “an unpaid employment or directorship”.
4. If Ms Coutinho, too, is unpaid as a member of the “advisory board” of Onward, it is interesting she disagrees with her ministerial colleague on the need to register the job.

New minister Claire Coutinho fails to register three other roles

1. On 21 September 2022, Claire Coutinho, the Conservative MP for East Surrey, was appointed as a junior minister at the Department for Work and Pensions.

Figure 1. Claire Coutinho MP: Policy Exchange website at 22 September 2022

2. I refer to the latest update of the register of MPs’ financial interests, as at 5 September 2022. There it appears Ms Coutinho has failed to register three other roles: “senior fellow” at thinktank Policy Exchange (screen shot in Figure 1); member of the One Surrey Growth Board (screen shot in Figure 2); and member of the “advisory board” of Onward, another thinktank (screen shot in Figure 3).

Figure 2. Claire Coutinho MP: One Surrey Growth Board website at 22 September 2022

3. On 22 April 2021, Ms Coutinho wrote on her official website: “I was delighted to be appointed as a senior fellow of Policy Exchange this week.” (screen shot in Figure 4)

Figure 3. Claire Coutinho MP: Onward website at 22 September 2022

4. As you can see, at 22 September 2022 the MP is shown in post on the websites of all three entities.

Figure 4. Claire Coutinho MP: official website dated 22 April 2021

5. It is unclear how many, if any, of the three roles is paid.
6. Part of the 2019 intake of MPs, Ms Coutinho was parliamentary private secretary (“PPS”) to chancellor Rishi Sunak (see 6 October 2021 post) and backed him in the Tory leadership election this summer.
7. Ms Coutinho didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Ian Rush breaches the advertising rules

1. Ian Rush recently breached the advertising rules – by failing to make clear an ad was an ad.
2. On 21 August 2022, the former Liverpool and Wales footballer plugged Carlsberg in a tweet from his personal Twitter account (@Ian_Rush9) (screen shot in Figure 1). The brewer is a longtime sponsor of Liverpool.

Figure 1. Ian Rush: tweet promoting Carlsberg dated 21 August 2022

3. Mr Rush’s post was an ad – but the football star failed to label the tweet as such: he didn’t use the identifier “#ad”, for example. In other words, Mr Rush omitted to make his marketing communication for Carlsberg “obviously identifiable as such”.
4. Meanwhile, Carlsberg’s own tweet for the campaign, dated 22 August 2022, includes the hashtag #ForeverFans. That Mr Rush used the same hashtag suggests the brewer had editorial “control” over his post (screen shot in Figure 2).

Figure 2. Carlsberg: tweet dated 22 August 2022

5. I complained to the Advertising Standards Authority (“ASA”) about Mr Rush’s undisclosed marketing communication. By reply, the advertising regulator upheld the complaint, saying in an email: “We thought you made a valid point, and so we contacted the advertiser to speak to them about making changes (without revealing your identity), [sic] we have now had assurances from Mr Rush’s agent that he will ensure future posts are correctly labelled.”
6. On 16 September 2022, the Football Association of Wales announced the appointment of Mr Rush as its advisor and football ambassador, “with a mission of promoting Welsh football on both the local and global stages”.

Swift transition from government to BHA

1. A senior communications executive at the heart of government is about to join the trade body “responsible for the governance, administration and regulation of horseracing and the wider horseracing industry in Britain”.
2. On 5 September 2022, the British Horseracing Authority (“BHA”) announced the appointment of Greg Swift as new director of communications and corporate affairs. Here’s the press release: https://www.britishhorseracing.com/press_releases/greg-swift-appointed-as-new-bha-director-of-communications-and-corporate-affairs/. (screen shot in Figure 1)

Figure 1. “Greg Swift appointed as new BHA Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs”: BHA press release dated 5 September 2022

3. There BHA refers to the government man as “an experienced and influential figure in the world of political communications”.
4. Mr Swift is based in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (“FCDO”), where he is head of news and press secretary to the foreign secretary.
5. At date of the BHA press release Liz Truss was foreign secretary. That afternoon strong favourite Ms Truss was announced as leader of the Conservative Party, and hence became prime minister. Thus the date of the BHA press release was no coincidence.
6. The Racing Post newspaper emphasised Mr Swift’s link to the prime minister in its report of his appointment (“’Greg Swift is a great asset to racing’ – Liz Truss ally’s arrival at BHA hailed”) (screen shot in Figure 2). There the third paragraph stated: “His relationship with Truss is viewed as potentially significant in helping the sport establish a productive relationship with the government, which is due to publish its much-awaited gambling review this year.”

Figure 2. “’Greg Swift is a great asset to racing’ – Liz Truss ally’s arrival at BHA hailed”: Racing Post website dated 4 September 2022

7. Back to the BHA press release. There Julie Harrington, BHA chief executive, said: “Among Greg’s responsibilities will be leading the sport’s liaison with and lobbying of government and senior figures in the national media. The depth of his government contacts and political and media communications experience will be a great asset to the BHA and the sport.”
8. Had Mr Swift sought the advice of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (“ACOBA”) in relation to his post with BHA? Unable to find an ACOBA advice letter for Mr Swift’s new job, I contacted ACOBA to determine whether he had consulted the public body about his new role. ACOBA said Mr Swift would have made a business appointment rules application to his department, FCDO.
9. I therefore emailed three questions to FCDO and BHA.
10. First, did Mr Swift make a business appointment rules application to FCDO for his BHA post? If so, did FCDO approve Mr Swift’s business appointment rules application? What, if any, restrictions were imposed?
11. Second, is FCDO happy Mr Swift will be “lobbying the government” on behalf of BHA?
12. Third, is FCDO happy Mr Swift will be exploiting his “government contacts” on behalf of BHA?
13. FCDO and BHA didn’t respond to requests for comment.
14. Mr Swift must only make a business appointment rules application to FCDO if his circumstances match one of a set of possibilities, according to the ACOBA website. It appears the following is relevant: “The proposed appointment or employment would involve making representations to, or lobbying the government on behalf of a new employer.”
15. Mr Swift would only need to seek advice for a time period determined by his exact pay grade at FCDO.
16. Trainer Charlie Brooks writes a column for the Daily Telegraph newspaper. There, on 12 September 2022, Mr Brooks told of his hope Mr Swift can “build bridges between the government and racing – bridges that have been allowed to fall into disrepair, even though they are essential to the financial health of the sport”.