Dominic Raab defends Tory MP’s legal work in Caribbean tax haven
Dominic Raab defends Tory MP Geoffrey Cox’s lucrative legal job 4,000 miles away in Caribbean tax haven saying it is for ‘voters to decide’ whether the ex-attorney general is doing enough work in the House of Commons
Dominic Raab said for voters to decide on MP Geoffrey Cox’s outside legal work The eminent QC voted in Parliament remotely from the British Virgin IslandsThe MP has earned more than £1million from outside legal work over past year
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Dominic Raab today defended a top Tory MP after it emerged they had earned hundreds of thousands of pounds from a second job that saw him vote in Parliament remotely from the Caribbean.
The Deputy PM insisted it is ‘legitimate’ for Geoffrey Cox, an eminent QC and former attorney general, to advise the government of the British Virgin Islands.
Sir Geoffrey, who has earned around a million pounds from legal work over the past year, took advantage of lockdown rules to cast votes in the Commons by proxy as he worked 4,000 miles away during the pandemic.
But Mr Raab said ‘voters will decide’ whether their MP is spending enough time on parliamentary duties.
Mr Raab said: ‘I think it’s first of all important to say that all of… any outside interests have to be properly declared.
‘In relation to the British Virgin Islands, I was the foreign secretary that commissioned a commission of inquiry, given the allegations of misgovernance and very serious ones, including criminal wrongdoing.
‘Now, I’m not going to get dragged into what individual MPs do, but actually having the former attorney general – and it wasn’t my decision, he was hired by the government of the BVI to advise them on how to correct and deal and address those allegations – actually, is a legitimate thing to do as long as it’s properly declared.
‘And of course, it’s quite important in that Parliament, which is responsible residually for some areas of our relationship with the overseas territories, we’ve got some knowledge of what’s going on in those territories.’
Geoffrey Cox pictured with his wife Jeanie. He has been paid almost £900,000 by an international law firm over the past year and received more than £130,000 for other legal work
Dominic Raab insisted it is ‘legitimate’ for Geoffrey Cox, an eminent QC and former attorney general, to advise the government of the British Virgin Islands
Mr Raab told BBC Breakfast that ‘there are very strict rules’ on second jobs and that it was ‘respectable and legitimate’ for MPs to hold other roles.
‘I think that people do want to see MPs and politics have exposure and experience that comes (from) outside the political world,’ he said.
He insisted the latitude ‘makes sure we don’t become ever more secluded and out of touch with the priorities of what’s going on in the world outside the House of Commons’.
However, Mr Raab said: ‘Ultimately, voters will decide on their MP and whether they’re spending enough time doing the job for them as their constituents.’
Asked on Radio 4’s Today programme whether he was comfortable with Sir Geoffrey’s outside work, Mr Raab said: ‘As I made very clear, it’s not for me to get comfortable or otherwise with it.
‘It’s for the voters in any individual constituency to look at the record of their MP and decide whether they got the right priorities.’
The revelation about Sir Geoffrey is likely to prompt fresh calls for reform of the regulations surrounding MPs’ second jobs.
It came as Boris Johnson was accused of ‘running scared’ after he snubbed a fiery Commons debate yesterday following the row over the Government’s botched attempt to block the suspension of disgraced Tory MP Owen Paterson.
According to a source Sir Geoffrey, who is known for being the highest-earning MP, spent up to a month in the British Virgin Islands working for Withers, an international law firm
Sir Geoffrey, who is known for being the highest-earning MP, spent up to a month in the British Virgin Islands working for Withers, an international law firm, while voting by proxy in the Commons, a source said.
He has been paid almost £900,000 by Withers over the past year and received more than £130,000 for other legal work.
He is thought to have been in the BVI in April and May this year. He was recorded as arriving on April 26, while the Commons was debating global anti-corruption sanctions.
A press release on the BVI government website for that day stated that Sir Geoffrey was ‘currently in quarantine’ but ‘intends to hold a series of meetings with government ministers in the next few weeks’.
He was listed among MPs eligible for a proxy vote that day.
There is no suggestion that Sir Geoffrey has broken any rules.
A Whitehall insider told the Daily Mail: ‘While he should have been in the UK working for his constituents he’s been over in the British Virgin Islands doing his second job working as a barrister and advising those accused of trousering cash for their mates.’
The register of financial interests shows he received £156,916.08 from Withers for work undertaken between April 29 and May 31, 2021, totalling 140 hours.
Sir Geoffrey, who was sacked as attorney general last year, has been representing the government of the BVI, a British Overseas Territory, in an inquiry into the governance of the islands.
Sir Geoffrey is advising the government of the British Virgin Islands, a tax haven accused of corruption
Appledore in Geoffrey Cox’s Devon constituency. The Tory MP yesterday revealed he has earned more than £1million from outside legal work over the past year on top of his £82,000 salary as a backbencher
It was launched in January by the Foreign Office to establish whether there was evidence of ‘corruption, abuse of office or other serious dishonesty that has taken place in public office in recent years’.
The inquiry has heard allegations of unaudited spending and contracts being handed out to politically-connected people.
The hearings have exposed tensions between the BVI’s local government and its governor, who is appointed by the UK.
A senior Whitehall source accused Sir Geoffrey of ‘pocketing hundreds of thousands of pounds to help stop the exposure of corruption in a Caribbean paradise’.
At the time, coronavirus restrictions meant MPs could participate in Commons debates via Zoom and vote by a proxy – meaning they did not have to come to Westminster.
Sir Geoffrey was hired by Withers in September last year as its ‘consultant global counsel’ to advise on private and overseas government clients, according to the firm’s website.
A post announcing his appointment noted that he remained MP for Torridge and West Devon and a privy counsellor, and would still practise as a barrister at Thomas More Chambers in London.
The British Government is funding the ‘core cost’ of the commission of inquiry in the BVI, but will not pay the fees associated with legal counsels appointed by individuals or organisations.
Liberal Democrat chief whip Wendy Chamberlain said she was ‘gobsmacked’ by the claims about Sir Geoffrey.
‘Why was a Tory MP apparently spending time on the other side of the world advising a known tax haven instead of supporting his constituents?
‘For the Justice Secretary to defend this behaviour as legitimate is frankly astonishing.
‘The bigger irony here is that the government has ordered an inquiry into corruption and political cronyism in the British Virgin Islands, while refusing to carry one out at home.’
Labour MP Karl Turner said yesterday: ‘How does Geoffrey Cox find time to do his job as a constituency MP?’
It comes amid growing calls for MPs to be banned from having second jobs that involve consultancy work. Sir Geoffrey was providing legal work, but many of his colleagues take on paid positions as consultants.
Sir Geoffrey did not respond to a request for comment last night.
