Missing person champion and Tory MP Rehman Chishti went AWOL for a few days during a recent crucial vote in the Commons, I can reveal.
And what was so important to defy a three-line whip to scupper Labour MP Barry Gardiner’s Bill to end fire and rehire?
Answer: A jolly to Lisbon courtesy of the Saudis, followed by a holiday in Portugal, of course.
The King Abdullah International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) conference ended on October 21, a day before the key Commons vote.
But ‘Shifty’ Chishti extended his trip by three days and even posted pictures of himself doing a Hasselhoff on a beach.
The former vice-chairman of the Tory Party did not, it appears, get permission from the Whips’ Office to skip the vote.
Missing person champion and Tory MP Rehman Chishti (pictured) went AWOL for a few days during a recent crucial vote in the Commons, I can reveal
A source tells me he ‘would have been b******ed’ on his return to his Kent constituency of Gillingham and Rainham.
I can further reveal that it’s not just a £1,000-plus freebie for flight, meals and accommodation that Shifty’s work for KAICIID involved.
He’s also been using his Commons office to appear in its events. Last December, the MP took part in an online webinar – despite strict rules that offices are to be used for parliamentary business only.
Earlier this year, Parliament’s sleaze watchdog found Shifty guilty of breaking the MPs Code of Conduct after lobbying for a planning application to build homes made by one of the MP’s donors.
The Pakistan-born 43-year-old, whose father was an adviser on religious affairs to Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, appears to have embraced the country’s affinity with Saudi Arabia.
Shifty’s previous work outside of Parliament included advising the King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies for £2,000
