Scotland Yard is under pressure to launch a ‘cash for honours’ probe after it was revealed yesterday that more than a dozen major Tory donors have been given peerages.
Opposition MPs called on the Metropolitan Police to investigate allegations that all former Conservative treasurers in recent decades – apart from the most recent – have been offered seats in the House of Lords after donating millions to the party.
One former Tory chairman is said to have claimed: ‘Once you pay your £3million, you get your peerage.’
It is a crime to buy or sell an honour. Previous allegations about peers who had made large loans to Labour led to several arrests, although no charges were brought.
SNP MP Pete Wishart said last night: ‘It’s beyond all doubt that the honours system has been abused by the Tories. The Metropolitan Police should launch a fresh cash for honours investigation.’
Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner (pictured) is among those who have accused the Conservative Party of corruption while the SNP's Peter Wishart (left) has said the Metropolitan Police should launch a fresh cash for honours investigation
And Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner said the allegations show that ‘Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party is corrupt, dodgy, sleazy and on the take’.
Prominent barrister Jolyon Maugham QC asked: ‘Why are the police not investigating this? Why is Boris Johnson above the law?’
Electoral Commission figures analysed by The Sunday Times and Open Democracy found all those who had recently served as Tory treasurer had donated millions of pounds to the party and individual MPs. And all but one of the 16 most recent treasurers have been offered peerages.
The research also showed that the last six treasurers-turned-peers gave far less money once they were elevated to Parliament.
The probe suggests treasurers are rewarded if they donate more than £3m. Pictured: Lord Lupton (L) and Lord Spencer (R)
Pictured: Lord Fraser (left) and Lord Cruddas (right) are among the lords embroiled in the cash for honours scandal
And they have rarely made speeches in the Lords despite claims that they deserved their places because of their expertise.
The former treasures who donated millions and were given peerages include Lord Lupton, Lord Fraser, Lord Cruddas and Lord Spencer.
Environment Secretary George Eustice told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show yesterday that they were given a seat in the House of Lords due to their ‘expertise’.
Lord Lupton declined to comment and Lord Cruddas did not respond.
Lord Spencer’s lawyers said that the allegations were not true.
Tory peer in £90m Covid deals affair changes his story...again
EXCLUSIVE BY DAVID ROSE FOR THE DAILY MAIL
A former health minister has admitted he deleted text and WhatsApp messages about Covid testing contracts from his phone because he wrongly believed there would be back-up copies.
Lord Bethell also said three apparently contradictory explanations he gave to government lawyers as to why the messages could not be produced were all mistaken because they related to a phone he stopped using before the pandemic began.
He set out the account in a witness statement for a High Court hearing over a legal challenge relating to deals for Covid tests worth £87.5million.
Lord Bethell, who was sacked in last month’s reshuffle, is said to have used his private email address thousands of times in relation to official business.
Last night he said he had done nothing wrong and insisted that using ‘modern technology’ to try to save lives was ‘appropriate’.
Lord Bethell’s use of his personal phone and private email has emerged as a result of a judicial review brought by the Good Law Project.
Former health minister Lord Bethell (pictured in Parliament) has admitted he deleted text and WhatsApp messages about Covid testing contracts from his phone because he wrongly believed there would be back-up copies in his latest explanation
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