Is this councillor the most wined and dined in UK?
A COUNCILLOR has staked a claim to be the most schmoozed politician in Britain after accepting 514 freebies in three years – including two lunches in one day. Robert Davis, deputy leader of Westminster City Council, enjoyed 296 meals, 60 theatre outings and nine foreign trips over the period.
His full list of gifts and hospitality runs to 16 pages of A4. Councillors must declare freebies worth £25 or more, but many would have far exceeded this figure.
Mr Davis was treated to 12 meals in Mallorca, as well as trips to the south of France, Spain, Italy, the US and Switzerland. The Cambridgeeducated solicitor, who was also wined and dined at the Ritz, Annabel’s, Claridge’s and The Ivy, has now referred himself to an internal standards watchdog.
His record shows he was taken to M Restaurant, where steaks events, cost up to £100, on 20 occasions. He was also gifted Wimbledon Centre Court seats by the Edwardian Hotels group and tickets to ten West End shows, including Hamilton, from theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh. On one occasion he had lunch at Andrew Lloyd Webber’s home in Mallorca, before a second lunch with the Earl of Chichester. He also attended a string of starstudded including a Bafta party where he was the guest of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. Mr Davis, chairman of the council’s planning committee from 2000 to 2017, was entertained by property industry representatives 150 times since January 2015. One gift was a Mallorca spa trip from Hyatt Hotels.
Sir Alistair Graham, a former chairman of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, urged Westminster Council leader Nickie Aiken to investigate, saying the council’s reputation was at risk. He told The Guardian: ‘It would be in the best interests for the leader of the council to carry out an investigation. She would need to ask what were the reasons for accepting this scale of hospitality and was any of it linked to planning decisions.’
A council spokesman confirmed it was investigating.
Some of the country’s wealthiest property developers, including Gerald Ronson, Sir Stuart Lipton and Sir George Iacobescu, the chief executive of Canary Wharf Group, paid to entertain Mr Davis.
There is no evidence to suggest he has broken any rules. But Labour councillor Adam Hug criticised the deputy leader’s close association with developers, saying the number of affordable homes built in the borough fell far below the council’s targets.
Mr Davis insisted meeting industry figures was ‘ an important part’ of his job to encourage the ‘right kind of development in Westminster’.
Last night he said: ‘ I have decided to refer myself to the authority’s monitoring officer. I am absolutely clear I have not broken any rules, but given recent attention I believe this is the right step to take so that can be shown to be the case.’
He added: ‘I have always been scrupulously open in my register of interests precisely to ensure transparency.’
Since councillor Richard Beddoe took over Mr Davis’s role on the planning committee, he has accepted a total of three freebies.