Overseas trips that Corbyn did not declare are investigated

JEREMY CORBYN is being investigated by the standards watchdog over his undeclared foreign trips, Labour has confirmed.

The news emerged after the party’s leader was accused of blocking the appointment of Jess Phillips, the outspoken Labour MP, to the committee of MPs that oversees the watchdog.

The Sunday Telegraph disclosed in August a list of at least nine overseas visits by Mr Corbyn between 2007 and 2014, none of which was declared in the register for members’ interests.

Last night, a Labour source confirmed that Mr Corbyn was being investigated over the alleged breach of the rules. But the source said the probe was being carried out by Kathryn Stone, the Commissioner for Standards, not the MPs on the Committee on Standards that oversees her work and that Ms Phillips hopes to join.

MPs are required to disclose “any travel or hospitality received in the course of a visit outside the UK, if it relates in any way to their membership of the House or their parliamentary or political activities”.

The threshold for declaring a visit at the time was £600. MPs who are found to have breached the rules can, in the most serious cases, be suspended from the House for 30 days.

Ms Phillips was lined up to take a place on the committee last week. But she told The Sunday Telegraph that she had been told that her name was withdrawn by the leader’s office and described the situation as “murky”.

The Labour source said: “Other members have asked to be considered for the appointment.

“An investigation into an alleged breach of the code of conduct is being undertaken by the Commissioner for Standards, not the Committee on Standards. This is ongoing, and the committee is not involved in the commissioner’s decision-making.”

A spokesman has previously said that Mr Corbyn “has visited around half the countries in the world to promote peace and justice. We are confident that all declarations that met the threshold were made”.