FAULTY TOWERS

Tory leader is executive at hotel that underpaid minimum wage

A HOTEL linked to a top Tory has been fined for not paying dozens of workers the minimum wage.

Ben Berry, Conservative group leader on South Lakeland Council, is listed on his register of interests as an executive of English Lakes Hotels, which runs five properties, including the Low Wood Bay on the shores of Windermere, Cumbria.

David Cameron visited in 2009 and again last year, when he was pictured with Mr Berry on a leather sofa.

But the four-star hotel – which charges up to £423 a night – was among 260 employers named by the Department for Business and fined a total of £1.3million for underpaying the minimum wage. It failed to pay £7,341 to 34 workers. Mr Berry’s address on the local Tory website is given as Low Wood Bay Hotel, Windermere. His family has run the premises for generations.

A local Lib Dem source said: “The Tories talk about helping hard-working people. So it’s a disgrace for a business linked to one of their council leaders to be paying below the minimum wage.

“The Low Wood is one of the Lake District’s most famous hotels, run by the wealthy Berry family. To treat their staff this way is scandalous.”

Mr Berry said: “It’s fine, obviously, if you name me. But to be clear, I have no ownership of the company.” He declined to reveal his role in the firm.

But told that his register of interests listed him as an executive of English Lakes Hotels, he said: “Sounds like you’ve got your answer there, then.”

VISITOR David Cameron with Ben Berry at the hotel POSH The Low Wood Bay hotel on Windermere