WHO BANKROLLS YOUR MP’S ELECTION CAMPAIGN?
THE DONATIONS, EXTRA INCOME AND FREE TRIPS WALES’ 40 MPS RECEIVE
ALL the billboards you see in people’s front gardens and the leaflets that come through your letterboxes at general election time don’t come cheap.
Many MPs and their constituency associations receive significant sums or gifts in kind from their and their parties’ supporters to fund election campaigns.
Nor do some of Wales’ 40 MPs value their time lightly, collecting significant sums for consultancy, columns, books and other work outside Parliament.
Some also go on trips around the world through parliamentary committees in which their substantial costs are paid for them; and some enjoy tickets to Wimbledon, Test cricket and the Chelsea Flower Show courtesy of donors.
One was also paid £20,000 by News International as part of a settlement in relation to phone hacking.
We’ve been through the donations, income and foreign trips declared by the 22 Labour, 14 Conservative, three Plaid and one currently independent MP who represent the nation’s parliamentary constituencies.
They have to declare anything over £1,500 (or over £500 if the MP has received over £1,500 in value from that source in the calendar year).
They should also declare if they have other revenue streams like second jobs or properties they let for over £100.
Not only this, but they have to declare any gift or benefit over £300. These are usually tickets or hospitality.
For the purposes of this article, we have only listed salaries, donations, gifts or other income valued at over £500.
■ Simon Hart, Conservative – Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire
Simon Hart has been an MP since 2010. He is a member of Boris Johnson’s cabinet and is the current Welsh Secretary.
He received a total of £41,231.66 across four separate donations from longstanding Conservative supporter Alexander Temerko, a Ukrainianborn energy businessman who was previously an arms tycoon.
Two of the donations came from Mr Temerko himself and two others came from two of his companies, Offshore Group Newcastle Ltd and Aquind Ltd.
Other donations include:
■ Johan Christofferson, a hedge fund manager known for his love of fox-hunting, donated £10,000 in August 2014, another £10,000 in February 2015 and £5,000 in June 2010. Mr Christofferson also donated over £30,000 to Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign;
■ London-based property developer Marc Pennick donated £2,000 in September 2019 and £5,000 in February 2019;
■ Landsker Business Club gave £10,000 in September 2019 and £10,000 in October 2015;
■ Michael O’Reilly gave £2,500 in October 2019;
■ Businessman Fraser Duffin gave £5,000 in November 2019 and £10,000 in October 2016;
■ United & Cecil Club, a British dining club with close links to the Conservative Party which often focuses on marginal seats, gave separate donations of £2,500 in November 2019, £1,000 in November 2019, £2,500 in September 2016 and £2,500 in March 2017;
■ Communications company 8hwe Ltd gave £3,000 in January 2019 and another £3,000 in July 2019;
■ The Lord Daresbury, £2,000, June 2010;
■ Two donations from David Lowes in 2015 and 2014 adding up to £4,500;
■ Anthony Buckingham, £5,000,
June 2010;
■ Carmarthen West and South
Pembrokeshire Patrons Club, £2,280.86, June 2010.
In addition to his salary, from November 2015 until July 2019, he worked as a “high net worth consultant” for the Countryside Alliance, a campaigning organisation that supports hunting, at which he was previously chief executive. For this, he received £30,000 a year in return for “a commitment of approximately eight hours a week”.
Before this, he worked as an outdoor education consultant for the Countryside Alliance and was paid £20,000 a year for six hours per week from July 2013 until May 2015. Events Mr Hart attended include: ■ Two tickets to the Cricket World Cup Final from the England and Wales Cricket Board valued at £948 in July 2019;
■ London-based property developer MAR Galadari twice gave Mr Hart tickets to see cricket at the Oval worth over £1,200.
■ In May 2014, he also accepted two tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show worth £1,404.00 from Japan Tobacco International.
■ Just three months before that, Mr Hart was one of only 24 MPs who voted against tabled amendments to the Children and Families Bill which would enable the UK Government to:
■ Introduce regulations requiring plain packaging for tobacco products;
■ Introduce regulations making it an offence to sell e-cigarettes to children under 18;
■ Make it an offence for an adult to buy cigarettes for anyone under the age of 18.
Two years earlier, Mr Hart was one of 50 MPs who wrote to then Health Secretary Andrew Lansley expressing serious concerns over the Government’s plain packaging proposals. He said: “There is no reliable evidence that plain packaging will have any public health benefit; no country in the world has yet to introduce it. However, such a measure could have extremely negative consequences elsewhere.”
Trips have included:
■ OGN Group spent £1,087.31 to send him to Geneva in September 2015 to visit dairy product manufacturers and suppliers.
■ Alun Cairns, Conservative – Vale of Glamorgan
Former Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns resigned from his position after it emerged that one of his staff was accused by a judge of deliberately sabotaging a rape trial.
The Vale of Glamorgan MP started a role as a senior adviser at the Crumlin-based BBI Group this summer. To earn his £15,000-a-year salary, which is in addition to his salary as an MP, Mr Cairns advises the company for just 70 hours a year (less than six hours a month).
BBI Group is part of UK-RTC consortium, a group of companies and institutions which develop new coronavirus antibody tests. In partnership with Avacta Group, they have worked on UK Government contracts to manufacture Covid-19 tests.
Alexander Temerko has also given Mr Cairns cash. He received a £5,000 donation in June 2019 and in April 2014 Mr Temerko gave another £5,000 in a personal donation. This was followed in September of the same year with £5,000, but this time from another one of his companies – Offshore Group Newcastle Ltd. Other donations have included: ■ £10,500 from London-based property developer Marc Pennick (over four donations in 2018 and 2019);
■ William Powell and Sons gave
£5,000 in June 2010. Then in 2015 Mr Cairns received two donations for £2,000 from a William Johns-Powell and a Vanessa Johns-Powell; ■ United & Cecil Club gave £5,000; ■ Euro Foods Group, £10,000, December 2014;
■ Rhodri Traherne, £2,000, September 2014;
■ Duncan Barber, £2,000, September 2018.
Mr Cairns also received two tickets for the Chelsea Flower Show in both 2011 and 2012 worth more than £2,200. This came from a Japanese tobacco company. This was at the same time as he voted against a bill banning smoking in cars carrying children and vocally opposed plain packaging on cigarettes.
Other events have included: ■ BSkyB gave him a ticket and hospitality for British Grand Prix worth £1,206 in July 2014;
■ MIR Steel UK Ltd gave him two tickets and hospitality to Wales v Ireland in March 2015 worth £495 each;
■ ITV Plc gave him a ticket to the National Television Awards worth £900 in January 2014 and 2013.
■ He also makes money from renting out a property in Cardiff for over £10,000 a year for which he claimed public funds during his time as an Assembly Member.
Trips Mr Cairns has taken include: ■ The Government of Hong Kong funded a trip worth £10,226 for him to visit as part of the All Party Parliamentary China Group delegation “to understand more about the political and economic environment in Hong Kong and the progress towards universal suffrage and to engage with and support bids by British business” in June 2014;
■ Nominet UK twice paid £4,500 for him to visit Bali, Indonesia, in 2012 and 2013 as part of a parliamentary delegation to the Internet Governance Forum.
Mr Cairns did not respond to our requests for comment.
■ Stephen Crabb, Conservative – Preseli Pembrokeshire
Former Wales Secretary Stephen Crabb has been an MP since 2005. He has received donations from: ■ Rayware Ltd gave Mr Crabb’s campaign £4,000 before the last election. Tony Endfield is joint owner and managing director of Liverpoolbased kitchenware firm Rayware. The firm reported turnover of £33.9m in the year to December 2018. Mr Endfield bankrolled several Conservative candidates’ campaigns;
■ Anthony Ford gave £3,000 (Mr Ford also gave Boris Johnson £30,000 when he ran to be Tory leader in 2019);
■ Clerewell Ltd gave him two donations, in 2016 and 2019, adding up to £5,500. The company is run by Sir Michael Heller, a real estate mogul with interests in shopping centres and London’s Brixton Market. His firm Clerewell Limited has given many donations to the Tories. He was knighted during David Cameron’s premiership;
■ Atul Patak, £2,500, July 2016. Mr Patak is the MD of Appt Corporation which operates 43 McDonald’s UK restaurants in London and Berkshire. He also gave Theresa May £5,000 to support her leadership bid of the Conservative Party.
■ BDS Contracts, £2,000, June 2010;
■ Lord Griffiths of Fforestfach, £2,000, June 2015;
■ Stephen Massey gave a private donation of £2,500, October 2019.
■ Trips Mr Crabb has been on include:
■ Several trips to Rwanda as part of a social action project;
■ The Conservative Friends of Israel paying his travel, accommodation and hospitality worth £2,400 to Israel and the West Bank in February 2020 on a fact-finding political delegation;
■ The Conservative Friends of Israel paid for Mr Crabb and his wife to have VIP airport service, accommodation and hospitality with a value of £2,500 as well as bus travel worth £650 in February 2017. They did not pay for his wife’s plane ticket. Mr Crabb recorded this was for a “factfinding political delegation to Israel”.
The Conservative Friends of Israel also paid for his hotel accommodation at both the 2018 and 2019 Conservative Party Conferences, which had a total value of £2,009.
Mr Crabb also received:
■ Two M&S Charity Ball tickets worth £2,000 in October 2016 from Capestone Organic Poultry Ltd;
■ Hydro Industries Ltd gave him four tickets with hospitality for the Wales v Argentina match at the Principality Stadium worth £833.36 in November 2016.
■ Chris Bryant, Labour – Rhondda The MP for the Rhondda has written several books.
Mr Bryant has also declared payments for thousands of pounds for columns he has written for newspapers.
These include:
■ £53,750 for writing a column in the Independent from 2013 to 2014 which equates to £2,500 a week;
■ Payments for articles for Mail on Sunday which took six hours for £3,400;
■ Two articles for the Daily Mirror, for which he received £800;
■ Payment of £500 received in August 2013 from The Times.
In November 2016, he also received £1,500 for appearing on Have I Got News for You.
He was also paid £79,350 from publishers for various books and the rights to turn one into a TV series.
A fundraising dinner held by the Rhondda Labour Party on March 3, 2010, which raised £15,347.50, including the three following donations:
■ Craig Fraser £4,300;
■ Dr Ved Bali £2,600;
■ Bell Pottinger £2,500 (Company). He also received £5,000 from the Musicians’ Union in 2010. Mr Bryant wrote on his declaration: “This donation was given to the constituency association, who will report it to the Electoral Commission.”
Tickets Mr Bryant has been given include:
■ Two tickets with dinner from England Rugby for the England v Australia match, October 2015, worth £730 while he was Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport;
■ Harriet Harman MP gave him one ticket for the Centre Court to watch Wimbledon, plus lunch and afternoon tea which was worth £1,795;
■ NCP also gave him a free carparking space at Cardiff railway station worth £1,247 in January 2010. Trips away have included: ■ £2,077.97 from Fundacion Euroamerica, for speaking at the IV Foro Mexico-Union Europea in November 2013. Fundacion Euroamerica also paid the costs of flights and hotel accommodation for two nights worth £4,987.12;
■ EU Russia Centre paid £2,500 to send him to Moscow in September 2010 to visit a series of human rights organisations and witness the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebede.
■ Dr James Davies, Conservative – Vale of Clwyd
Dr Davies has received money linked to his previous work as a doctor.
As an MP he has declared donations including:
■ Carlton Club Political Committee donated £2,500 in January 2020. The Carlton Club is a members-only club in London. It was the original home of the Conservative Party before the days of Conservative Central Office. According to the club’s website: “Today the club continues to uphold these values in its day-to-day activities”;
■ Association of Conservative Clubs, £2,500, January 2020;
■ United and Cecil Club, £2,500, January 2020;
■ United and Cecil Club, £1,000, January 2020;
■ Jane Dawnay, £2,500 for the purpose of campaigning in the EU referendum, June 2016;
■ Carlton Club, £5,000, June 2015; ■ United and Cecil Club, £4,500, June 2015.
■ Stephen Kinnock, Labour – Aberavon
Mr Kinnock has been the MP for Aberavon since 2015.
He had declared the following payments:
■ In October 2019 he received £1,000 from Warwick University for being a panellist on Warwick University’s Question Time;
■ He also received £750 from the law firm Shoosmiths for speaking at a webinar in May 2020;
■ The Berggruen Institute paid him £776 for co-authoring a paper in March 2019.
■ Donations he has received include:
■ Community Union, £4,000,
November 2019;
■ Community Union, £7,000, April 2020;
■ Community Union, £7,000, April 2019;
■ Dr Joseph Zammit-Lucia, £5,000, November 2019;
■ Innovation in Housing Ltd, £3,000, January 2020;
■ In December 2018, Anneli Howard gave legal advice with a value of £5,260.
He has a house in Neath Port Talbot worth £100,000 and/or giving rental income of more than £10,000 a year.
Trips he has declared include: ■ A £591.77 trip from the Munich Security Conference Foundation to Minsk in October to attend the Munich Security Conference Core Group meeting;
■ The European Leadership Network (ELN) paid his travel worth £1,030.96 to St Petersburg to attend a meeting of the Russian Contact Group, discussing Russia-West relations in 2018. The also paid for a similar trip to Brussels in 2017;
■ The Community Union paid for flights, accommodation and food with a total value of £3,500 so he could travel to Mumbai, India, as part of a delegation organised to lobby Tata over the future of the Port Talbot Steelworks;
■ Aberavon & Port Talbot RFC gave tickets for Mr Kinnock to attend the Wales v England match in February 2017. The combined value of the tickets was £1,280.
■ Rob Roberts, Conservative – Delyn
Mr Roberts gained his seat at the last election. He was investigated after accusations of inappropriate behaviour against male and female members of staff.
He received £4,250 in January 2020 from The Tandridge Club. The club is a pro-Conservative political discussion group. The conclusion of one of their discussions on their website reads: “Work ethic in UK people, especially the young, is weak. It is too easy and often beneficial to stay on benefits rather than take a job.”
He also received £2,000 from IPGL Ltd in January 2020. The director and majority shareholder in IPG is Michael Spencer. He was awarded a peerage in August 2020 in the Political Honours List.
■ Beth Winter, Labour – Cynon Nothing declared that meets the threshold.
■ Sarah Atherton, Conservative – Wrexham
Ms Atherton won her seat in the 2019 election.
She has declared three donations in her nine months in office:
Two were from the United and Cecil Club, who are the seventh-largest donor to the Conservatives. They gave a total of £3,500 that was declared in January 2020.
The Switzerland-based bank Schroder & Co who provide “investment management services” donated £5,000 in January 2020.
She also received over £10,000 a year for a house she owns in Wrexham.
A qualified nurse, she returned to the frontline during the coronavirus pandemic and worked 61 hours of shifts at Wrexham Maelor Hospital this summer.
She donated the payments to charity.
■ Ben Lake, Plaid Cymru – Ceredigion
The 27-year-old MP for Ceredigion took his seat in 2017.
He had declared nothing that met the threshold for the article.
■ Kevin Brennan, Labour – Cardiff West
Mr Brennan was first elected to Parliament in 2001.
Many of his declarations related to the band he is in with three other parliamentarians called MP4. These include:
■ The Bedford Arms and Research in Motion sponsored them towards the costs of rehearsals, equipment and launch reception for an album for £1,500 apiece in June 2010;
■ He received £878.82 for two performances on December 19-20, 2018 on the Matt Forde Live Christmas Show.
■ Received £2,265.60 for shows between September and October 18, 2016, for appearing on the Dave TV series Unspun.
Mr Brennan received £20,000 from News Group Newspapers in July 2013 as part of a settlement in relation to phone hacking.
Donations he has declared include:
■ Unite Wales, £1,125, January
2020;
■ Musicians Union, £4,000, January 2020;
■ Unite the Union gave £2,000 of printing services ahead of the election in November 2019;
■ Musicians Union, £5,000 donation to his constituency party, May 2010;
■ UCATT (a union) gave a £2,000 donation to his constituency party in May 2010;
■ NCP car-parking pass at Cardiff railway station worth £1,247 in March 2011.
Events attended include: ■ Universal Music Group International Ltd have twice given a ticket and hospitality to attend The Brit Awards worth around £1,100 in February 2020 and 2019. He was shadow culture minister;
■ ITV gave him one ticket including hospitality to the National Television Awards worth £1,330 in January 2019, as he was shadow culture minister;
■ PRS for Music gave him a ticket and hospitality worth £776.47 to attend Glastonbury Festival as shadow culture minister in June 2019;
■ News UK gave him one ticket, with hospitality, to Australia v Wales at Twickenham worth £795 in October 2015;
■ Wembley Stadium gave him Royal Box seats and lunch for two people at the Carling Cup Final in February 2012 worth £1,000.
Overseas visits for Mr Brennan have included:
■ The World Innovation Summit for Education paid for his flights and accommodation worth £4,500 to visit Doha in November 2014 to attend the summit;
■ Wales Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce paid for: flights, travel and accommodation valued at £1,700 to visit Bangladesh in January 2015 to participate in a trade delegation from Wales seeking to build relationships with businesses in Bangladesh with the view to increasing trade and investment between both countries.
■ Faye Jones, Conservative – Brecon and Radnorshire
Ms Jones won her seat in the last general election in 2019.
She has declared the following donations:
■ Water company Radnor Hills gave £10,000 which was declared in January 2020;
■ Stalbury Trustees via Forsters gave £5,000 in January 2020. Their trustees include the Marquess of Salisbury, a former leader of the Conservatives in the House of Lords who is known to have supported a Leave vote.
When the Western Mail contacted Ms Jones she stressed that these were not donations to her personally but donations to the Brecon and Radnorshire Conservative Association for her election campaign.
■ Jessica Morden, Labour – Newport East
Ms Morden won her seat in 2005. Her donations for the last decade are:
■ GMB, £5,000, January 2020;
■ GMB Wales and South West, £4,400, June 2015;
■ Community union, £3,000, January 2020;
In September 2018 she went to Zambia to gain an insight into the country’s efforts to promote human development and boost prosperity through delivery of key interventions, such as health programmes for women, adolescent girls and children. The trip was funded by Results UK for the total of £2,420.95.
■ Jamie Wallis, Conservative – Bridgend
Mr Wallis gained his seat in 2019. He currently has shareholdings in 15 companies, some of which are dormant. They are mainly concerned with data recovery, though there is one called Quickie Divorce.
Since his election he has left directorships at 14 different companies
For his election campaign he received £24,153 of interest-free credit from Fields Associates Ltd – a company where he was a director.
He owns four commercial office units in Bridgend valued over £100,000 and/or giving rental income of over £10,000 a year.
■ Ruth Jones, Labour – Newport West
Ms Jones won her seat in a byelection in April 2019. Her donations were all declared in January 2020 and seem to mainly relate to the December 2019 general election:
■ GMB – £5,000;
■ Unite the Union – £2,500;
■ Communications Workers Union – £650;
■ Communications Workers Union premises for use as a campaign HQ, value £3,500;
■ Unite the Union - £1,000;
■ Communications Workers Union use of office premises for the duration of by-election campaign – £2,750, April 2019;
■ David Davies, Conservative – Monmouth
Mr Davies has received several payments for appearances on various media outlets:
■ Payments from News UK & Ireland Ltd, November 2018 totalling £450 and, for taking part in Talk Radio’s Julia Hartley Brewer Show, £1,350;
■ Has twice received £750 for appearing on Sam Delaney’s News
Thing.
He also received £3,500 for 35 hours from Phoenix Chinese News & Entertainment Co for advice on politics and current affairs issues and creative ideas for programmes and features between 2011 and 2015.
Donations that have been made include one from Ronald Hear for £3,000, June 2010.
There was another declared donation from Paul Bailey worth £25,000 in May 2017. However, when we approached Mr Davies about the donation he said that it had not gone to him, his campaign or constituency office.
He said: “The donation from Paul Bailey was to the local Conservative Association but I declared it to ensure there was no suggestion of a conflict of interest.”
Trips Mr Davies declared include: ■ Rolls-Royce Plc paid for his travel and accommodation in Berlin worth £958 in September 2016, for visits to the German Parliament, Chancellery, Ministries, Rolls-Royce aeroengine factory and to meet German business and parliamentarians to discuss the EU referendum and its future impact;
■ The Sir Joseph Hotung Programme donated £1,002.94, to cover travel costs, accommodation and subsistence for a visit to the West Bank and Israel in June 2012. Mr Davies was part of the Britain-Palestine All-Party Parliamentary Group delegation;
■ The Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco paid £1,472 in January 2011 for him to visit Western Sahara for talks with government officials;
■ As part of the All Party Parliamentary China Group, he received return flights to China, internal travel, accommodation and meals worth £2,199.98. The visit was in December 2011 to “maintain and strengthen relations between Parliament and the National People’s Congress of China, to learn about and support British businesses operating in China and to deepen the knowledge and understanding of parliamentarians of China”.
When the Western Mail contacted Mr Davies he pointed out that he received no money for the trips he went on. He said: “Some of those were donations to the Conservative Party in Monmouthshire and not to me personally.”
■ Hywel Williams, Plaid Cymru – Arfon
Nothing declared that meets the threshold.
■ Craig Williams, Conservative – Montgomeryshire (previously Cardiff North MP from 2015-17)
Mr Williams won his Montgomeryshire seat in 2019. He was previously the MP for Cardiff North and those claims are also included. Donations include: ■ Association of Conservative Clubs, £5,000, for the 2019 General Election;
■ Mark Woolfenden (a spin doctorturned-businessman) gave £5,000 which was declared in January 2020;
■ The United and Cecil Club, £2,500, December 2015.
■ He was given a rugby ticket and hospitality in 2015 from Cardiff Business Council worth £1,375. Trips he has taken include: ■ Being part of a political delegation to Israel and Palestine worth £1,600 funded by the Conservative Friends of Israel;
■ A trip to Kenya in November 2015 worth £1,416.91 from Christian Aid to research impact of climate change;
■ As part of the All Party Parliamentary China Group he was funded to the value of £2,958.06 in June 2016 to visit to “maintain and strengthen relations between the UK Parliament and the National People’s Congress of China”;
■ He was part of an Against Antisemitism delegation to Israel and the Palestinian Territories to discuss and seek out good practice in addressing anti-semitism and racism in football and on the internet. This £2,394 trip was paid for by the PCAA Foundation in 2017.
■ Robin Millar, Conservative – Aberconwy
Mr Millar became an MP in 2019. He declared owning over 15% of issued share capital RJ Millar Consulting Ltd – a management consultancy.
■ Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru – Dwyfor Meirionnydd
The group leader of Plaid Cymru in the House of Commons has been an MP since 2015.
Her only declaration that is eligible is a trip to European Parliament in October 2019 worth £1,370.60 and funded by Best for Britain. It involved meeting ambassadors, EU representatives, and a press call.
■ Stephen Doughty, Labour – Cardiff South and Penarth
Mr Doughty has been an MP since 2012.
His donations include: ■ Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers, £2,000, October 2019;
■ GMB, £4,750, to support his reelection campaign, November 2019;
■ Musicians Union, £4,000, to support reflection, November 2019;
■ GMB, £1,700, 2015;
■ Cardiff Labour Party Group,
£3,000, June 2015;
■ Clive Jones let him use his property as a campaign office, with a value of £2,636.29 (equivalent to rent and rates chargeable);
■ Anthony Martin, constituency treasurer of Cardiff South and Penarth, raised £1,530.60 at a fundraising dinner for his constituency party.
He has received donations to the following events:
■ £6,000 of Six Nations rugby tickets from taxi company Veezu Ltd, Smart Solutions Ltd, Brains Brewery, and The Royal Bank of Scotland;
■ He travelled to Amsterdam at the cost of £1,407.83 to speak at the International Aids Conference in 2018. His costs were paid by an NGO called AIDS Fonds and the All Party Group on HIV/AIDS, which he chairs.
Mr Doughty told the Western Mail: “The trip was in relation to my role as chair of the All Party Group on HIV/ AIDS, and a campaign we were running at the time around the Amsterdam summit, which was successful and which helped secure millions of funding for HIV work around the world from a number of governments.”
On the donations he received, Mr Doughty said: “For clarity, the vast majority of these donations obviously are related to my campaigns and election expenses in 2012, 2015, 2017 and 2019. I obviously didn’t personally benefit from any of those donations or declarations.”
On the subject of the rugby games he attended, he said: “On rugby hospitality – if I accept it – my general rule is only to go with local businesses or organisations where there is a direct constituency or parliamentary relevance and a working dinner/ lunch around the match, which was the case for all of the ones listed.
“I always ask for the full commercial price from the sponsor, so that I
am completely transparent as to the commercial value – though usually it just amounts to ticket and food.”
■ Nick Thomas-Symonds, Labour – Torfaen
The barrister and shadow home secretary won his seat in 2015.
He has declared the following donations:
■ Unite the Union, £2,756, for the 2019 General Election;
■ Unite the Union donated franking envelopes and making a video for the 2019 general election worth £3,546.20;
■ GMB trade union, £2,000, for the 2019 general election;
He also received a £4,247.07 advance for a book from The Wylie Agency (UK) Ltd as well as £625 from the Oxford Chinese Economy Programme, for delivering a talk in August 2019.
■ David Jones, Conservative – Clwyd West
Mr Jones has represented Clwyd West since 2005.
He has received the following donations:
■ Anthony Ford, £5,000, December 2019;
■ Matthew Ferrey, £2,500, to spend on the EU referendum, June 2016.
■ Elisabeth Culshaw, £3,000, November 2014.
He has a leasehold office premises in Llandudno, Conwy, valued over £100,000 and/or giving rental income of over £10,000.
He also jointly owns a tenanted freehold retail premises in Wrexham County Borough for which no registrable rent received.
Trips he has declared include:
■ A fact-finding visit to the West Bank and Israel organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding and Medical Aid for Palestinians valued at £1,300 in 2015;
■ Bahrain Ministry of Foreign Affairs paid his travel and expenses of £4,753.26 in 2016 to meet Bahraini ministers, officials and leaders;
■ The Saudi Arabia Ministry of Foreign Affairs paid for him to go on a fact-finding trip worth £3,717 for three days in April 2016;
■ The Government and Parliament of Jordan paid £1,750 for him to go to Jordan as part of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Jordan to assess the impact of the refugee crisis on the country and hold meetings with members of the Jordanian government and the Jordanian parliament in December 2014.
■ Chris Evans, Labour – Islwyn
Mr Evans has been an MP since 2010.
In July 2018, he received £1,000 from Capita, for attending and delivering a speech at their Customer Service Conference. He donated this fee to charity.
In June 2019 he also received £4,400 as an advance for a book from Bloomsbury Publishing.
In November 2016 the Lawn Tennis Association gave him one ticket with hospitality to the ATP World Tour Finals worth £605.
As part of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Kuwait delegation the Kuwait National Assembly paid for his flights, hotel accommodation, food and transport to a total value of £4,837 in 2016.
The charity Crohns and Colitis UK donated £5,640 for taking on an intern for a 12-week placement.
■ Tonia Antoniazzi, Labour – Gower
The Labour MP was elected the MP for Gower in 2017.
She has received two donations in that time:
■ She was given £5,000 by Matthew Alan Oakeshott (aka Baron Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay) for her 2019 election campaign. Baron Oakeshott was a Liberal Democrat peer who resigned after being highly critical of
Nick Clegg’s leadership. He has since donated substantial sums to Labour, the Libs Dems and the Green Party since 2015 to “help save our country from a Tory government cringing to Ukip”;
■ £2,000 from the Union GMB Wales & Southwest for her 2019 election campaign.
She was also given hospitality tickets to England v Wales in August 2019 worth £717 by Premiership Rugby Ltd.
She owns a house in Carmarthenshire providing over £10,000 a year in rental income.
■ Christina Rees, Labour – Neath Ms Rees has been an MP since 2015.
Her donations include:
■ GMB, £2,000, for costs incurred at the 2019 general election;
■ Communications Workers’ Union, £2,000 per annum, paid in quarterly instalments of £500, which was declared in December 2015.
She has a residential property in Bridgend County Borough valued at more than £100,000 and/or giving rental income of over £10,000 a year.
She was given a ticket by England Rugby for a match in 2015 worth £695 but did not attend the match.
■ Nick Smith, Labour – Blaenau Gwent
Mr Smith has declared two donations:
■ Community, £4,000, October
2019;
■ GMB Union, £4,000, November 2019;
He also went to China in 2011 as part of the All Party Parliamentary China Group, which cost £2,654.48 and was to maintain and strengthen relations between Parliament and the National People’s Congress of China, to learn about and support British businesses operating in China and to deepen parliamentarians’ knowledge and understanding of China.
■ Virginia Crosbie, Conservative – Ynys Mon
Ms Crosbie was elected in the election of December 2019.
She has received donations from the United and Cecil Club worth £3,500 and from a man named Ian Goldbart for £2,000 in January 2020.
■ Wayne David, Labour – Caerphilly
In the last decade Mr David has declared three trips:
■ One was paid for by the Taipei Representative Office, for him and his wife to travel to Taiwan in April 2017 to meet and hold discussions with senior political figures, including the president. The value was, flights costing £3,200, accommodation costing £900, meals costing £500, local transport costing £120. This added up to £4,720 in total;
■ As part of a cross-party fact-finding parliamentary delegation to Catalonia, he was funded up to a value of £760 by the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia in May 2014;
■ Europe House (a Tbilisi-based NGO) paid his flights and accommodation to Georgia in May 2012. It was worth just over £2,500 so he could attend and speak at Europe Week, a conference in the Georgian capital.
■ Carolyn Harris, Labour – Swansea East
Serving since 2015, Ms Harris has made two declarations:
■ GMB, £4,000, for the 2019 General Election campaign; ■ Unite the Union, £2,750, for the 2019 general election campaign.
■ Gerald Jones, Labour – Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney
Mr Jones gained his seat in the 2015 election.
He received a £2,000 donation from GMB Wales and South West Region which was declared in January 2020.
■ Anna McMorrin, Labour – Cardiff North
Ms McMorrin has been the MP for Cardiff North since 2017.
She received a donation from Lord Matthew Oakeshott of £5,000 in September 2019. Lord Oakshott was a Liberal Democrat peer who resigned after being highly critical of Nick Clegg’s leadership. He has since donated substantial sums to Labour, the Libs Dems and the Green Party.
The USDAW union donated £10,000 in October 2019.
As part of a cross-party trade and technology delegation, she received return flights to San Francisco as well as accommodation, meals and sundries as well as transportation valued at £4,941.43.
■ Jonathan Edwards, Independent – Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
Mr Edwards has been an MP since 2010.
He has a house in Penygroes that gives a rental income of over £10,000 a year.
In October 2010 the company Buswhereto.com allowed him the use of a minibus as a mobile surgery for six months at a value of £180 per week.
■ Chris Elmore, Labour – Ogmore Mr Elmore has been an MP since 2016.
His three donations have all come from unions in relation to his last election campaign:
■ Unite the Union, £2,000, January 2020;
■ USDAW, £2,000, January 2020;
■ GMB Wales and South West, £4,000, January 2020.
■ Alex Davies-Jones, Labour – Pontypridd
Ms Davies-Jones declared £3,307 from Unite the Union in January 2020.
When the Western Mail approached her, she said that no cash was donated.
“Unite the Union kindly provided postage for election materials during my 2019 general election campaign,” she said. “No cash was donated, and Unite instead franked election materials that were sent to local residents.”
■ Geraint Davies, Labour – Swansea West
Mr Davies has a residential property in London giving rental income of over £10,000 a year and owned over 15% of share capital in Pure Crete Ltd, tour operator to Crete, until December 2019
GMB gave a donation of £4,500 in June 2010.
■ Nia Griffith, Labour – Llanelli The current Shadow Secretary of State for Wales has been an MP since 2005.
She has received the following donations:
■ USDAW, £2,000, for the election in December 2019;
■ USDAW also paid £3,000 to her local constituency party on March 2015.
She has a smallholding in Carmarthenshire valued over £100,000 and/or giving rental income of over £10,000 a year. She has declared two trips: ■ One from the Université d’été de la Défense in France added up to a total value of £822 in September 2018. The purpose of the visit was to attend the 16th Summer Defence Conference and engage with parliamentarians and representatives of the armed forces;
■ The Sir Joseph Hotung Programme paid £960 for her travel, accommodation and food in 2012 to travel to the West Bank and Israel. This was part of the Britain-Palestine All-Party Parliamentary Group Delegation, organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding.
BBC Cymru Wales gave her tickets and hospitality for two people at Wales v Ireland in the Six Nations in February 2013 worth an estimated £781.
■ Mark Tami, Labour – Alyn and Deeside
Mr Tami has been the MP for Alyn and Deeside since 2001.
His donations include:
■ Unite the Union, £5,893, January 2020;
■ Unite the Union provided postal vote letters during the election in 2015 at the value of £2,258;
■ Unite the Union, £3,000, April 2014;
■ Lord Patrick Carter, £2,500, January 2020. Lord Carter was made a life peer by Tony Blair.
He owns a holiday apartment on the farm in Flintshire where he lives, as well as an apartment in Portugal.
Both he and his wife attended the Grand National race in April 2012, including overnight accommodation courtesy of Heineken UK. The value was approximately £1,000.
■ Simon Baynes, Conservative – Clwyd South
Part of the 2019 intake to parliament, Mr Baynes’ only declaration that falls within our criteria is a property in Wales consisting of main house, annex, ancillary building, cottage and farmland that generates an income less than £10,000 in a calendar year.
■ Jo Stevens, Labour – Cardiff Central
Ms Stevens won her seat in 2015. Her declared donations were all in January 2020:
■ Musicians’ Union, £4,000;
■ RMT, £2,000;
■ GMB, £14,229.05;
■ Unite the Union, £2,500;
■ CWU Wales and the Marches, £2,000;
■ USDAW, £2,000.
ITV plc gave her a ticket to the National Television Awards at the O2 worth £1,330 in January 2019 in her capacity as a member of the Digital Culture Media and Sport Select Committee.
Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars paid her travel of £1,327.44 to Washington in 2020 to attend and participate in a Defeating Disinformation conference of international parliamentarians.