ANNA MIKHAILOVA: And the Olympic gold for greed... goes to MPs 

ANNA MIKHAILOVA: And the Olympic gold for greed... goes to MPs 
ANNA MIKHAILOVA: And the Olympic gold for greed... goes to MPs 

'Rest assured – no one wants to stop firms getting to know their clients by taking them to events like Wimbledon or the Grand Prix,’ wrote then-Justice Secretary Ken Clarke in his foreword to the 2010 Bribery Act.

And Heaven forfend that there is any reason other than their scintillating company for gambling firms, banks and developers to have spent an eye-watering £140,000 in the past six weeks entertaining 59 cross-party MPs at sporting and music events.

One test for whether hospitality looks like a bribe is if a ‘reasonable’ person regarded the entertainment as ‘unduly extravagant’. So, my reasonable readers, you decide which MP gets what in this year’s Olympic Greed & Gifts medals table.

The Tory couple’s jollies include the Euros semi-final and Wimbledon as guests of Entain Holdings, part of Entain PLC, which owns Coral and Ladbrokes

The Tory couple’s jollies include the Euros semi-final and Wimbledon as guests of Entain Holdings, part of Entain PLC, which owns Coral and Ladbrokes

Husband and wife Philip Davies and Esther McVey representing Shipley and Tatton respectively, are going for gold with £15,088 of freebies since June alone.

The Tory couple’s jollies include the Euros semi-final and Wimbledon as guests of Entain Holdings, part of Entain PLC, which owns Coral and Ladbrokes.

Davies is a freebie veteran friend of gambling firms and, coincidentally, attacked Government plans to regulate fixed-odds betting terminals, seen by critics as the crack cocaine of gambling. He’s also paid £1,000 a month as a ‘Parliamentary Adviser’ to the National Pawnbroking Association.

Former Tory Sports Minister and Chatham MP Tracey Crouch bagged the most expensive single ticket – £4,560 for the England-Czech Republic Euros clash – courtesy of the Football Association and a £3,600 ticket to the final from selfless Kent developer Gallagher Group.

In the synchronised freebie

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