MEP Smith says sorry for Brexit Party funds claim
Amid the deluge of lies, half-truths and deception, politicians must base their opinions on hard facts
A senior SNP politician has been forced to apologise for branding the Brexit Party as a front for “money laundering”.
Alyn Smith – one of three SNP MEPS from Scotland – has apologised to Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice for the allegation, which he said had been made in “the heat of the moment”.
Mr Smith had claimed in the wake of last month’s European elections the rival party was “a shell company that’s a money laundering front”.
A statement released yesterday by Mr Smith’s solicitors said: “I have agreed to pay a sum in damages to the Help For Heroes charity and I have agreed to pay legal costs.”
The SNP’S senior MEP has apologised to the chairman of the Brexit party after claiming the breakaway political movement was “a shell company that’s a money laundering front”.
Alyn Smith, who was first elected to Brussels in 2004, said in a statement yesterday that he had agreed to pay a sum in damages to charity as part of his apology.
The MEP had claimed in an interview in the wake of last month’s European elections that the Brexit party was “a money laundering front and I have absolutely no doubt they’ll be shown to be every bit as feckless as their predecessors in Ukip were”.
That claim prompted the party’s chairman, Richard Tice, to send a legal letter to Mr Smith calling for the MEP to make an immediate statement “making it absolutely clear that neither the Brexit party nor Mr Tice are involved in money laundering”.
In a statement released today by his solicitors, Mr Smith said: “On May 27 I was interviewed by Sky News.
“In that interview I stated in the context of political donations that the Brexit Party is a ‘shell company that’s a money laundering front’.
“Its chairman, Richard Tice, is concerned by the implication this allegation related to him, although that was not my intention.
“Having reflected upon this following a complaint from Mr Tice, I apologise unreservedly to him and withdraw my allegation. I spoke in the heat of the moment and I am happy to set the record straight.
“I have agreed to pay a sum in damages to the Help For Heroes charity and I have agreed to pay legal costs.”
The full settlement has been kept confidential.
Mr Tice said: “I am pleased Alyn Smith has now apologised and withdrawn these wholly unfounded and damaging allegations.
“People are entitled to take a different view of Brexit and I respect their right to do so. But I will not hesitate to take action against those who make false claims about the Brexit party and by implication those that run it.”
The Brexit party was launched by former Ukip leader Nigel Farage in November 2018 with the aim of ensuring the UK’S departure from the European Union.
It won 29 of the UK’S 73 seats at the European Parliament following last month’s election. The result prompted Mr Farage to hand a letter to Downing Street to demand involvement in the UK government’s Brexit negotiation process.
Last week, the Electoral Commission warned the Brexit party that the fundraising structure it had adopted left it at risk of receiving impermissible donations.
The UK regulator said the party was using an online system to receive donations which could be open to abuse.
The Electoral Commission visited the Brexit party’s London offices last month to review the systems it had in place to receive funds.
It concluded the fundraising structure adopted by the party leaves it open to “a high and on-going risk of receiving and accepting impermissible donations”.
The commission has since made recommendations that it said would, if implemented by the party, achieve and maintain robust procedures for receiving funds and help it comply with its legal requirements.
SNP MEP Alyn Smith clearly went too far when he accused the Brexit Party of being “a shell company that’s a money-laundering front”. There is no evidence at all of money laundering and, after being threatened with legal action, Smith has now apologised, saying he spoke in the “heat of the moment”.
However, no-one should think the Brexit Party is completely in the clear over its funding arrangements, given the Electoral Commission’s recent statement that the “fundraising structure adopted by the party leaves it open to a high and ongoing risk of receiving and accepting impermissible donations”. In essence, if Vladimir Putin, say, or anyone else is sending multiple donations of less than £500 via its online donation service, no-one, not even the Brexit Party, would be able to tell because of the way it’s set up. Under election law, sums of more than £500 must come from someone on the UK electoral register or a Uk-registered company.
Gordon Brown was among those to highlight the potential for the abuse of such a system and the Electoral Commission has made recommendations to the Brexit Party in order to help it “meet its legal responsibilities when it comes
to receiving funds”, warning of enforcement action if it does not.
In previous years, a comment like Smith’s might have been seen as hyperbole, an over-the-top remark designed to make a point, not to be taken literally. But these are changed days. We live in a time when Donald Trump has, according to a Washington Post tally, made more than 10,000 false or misleading claims in 869 days as US President and when the current frontrunner to replace Theresa May as Prime Minister is Boris Johnson, a man sacked twice for dishonesty and a prominent supporter of the bogus idea that Brexit would save Britain £350 million a week.
Politicians are only human and we can all get a bit carried away at times, so Smith’s mistake was perhaps understandable. But with some world leaders turning the truth into a new political battleground – giving rise to sinister concepts like “implausible deniability” and “alternative facts” – it is absolutely vital that their opponents ensure they base their opinions on hard evidence.
Failing to do so only lets deliberate liars off the hook by giving the impression that all politicians are as bad as each other – and that is simply not true.
“The Conductors pledge themselves for impartiality, firmness and independence... Their first desire is to be honest, the second is to be useful... The great requisites for the task are only good sense, courage and industry”
FROM THE PROSPECTUS OF THE SCOTSMAN, 30 NOVEMBER 1816