Tory MP Scott Benton has been caught be investigative journalists for the Times offering to get help gambling lobbyists influence government policy, despite parliamentary rules banning MPs from lobbying in return for payment. In a sting video, Mr Benton is seen boasting about his personal access to top ministers, as well as offering to leak confidential documents ahead of their publication.
The embarrassing video footage shows the Blackpool South MP offering to help an investment fund influence ministers and MPs, and obtain “behind-the-scenes” information.
Undercover reporters posed at investors while wearing hidden cameras, and contacted several MPs in an attempt to catch rule-breaking.
They met with Scott Benton last month at a central London hotel, where the MP guaranteed he could leak a copy of a forthcoming white paper on gambling reforms, at least 48 hours before it went public – a move that could have allowed the fake company to profit from market-sensitive information.
He also offered to submit written parliamentary questions, which he said he had done before on behalf of other companies.
Mr Benton is also seen boasting of “easy access to ministers”, and said he was prepared to “literally sit outside” a minister’s office if the fake lobbying company urgently needed a question answering.
At one point he is seen criticising the new Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer for not having “a grasp of the detail of the reform she should have at this stage”, saying his conversation with her had set “alarm bells ringing”.
Towards the end of the conversation, the undercover reporters asked the Blackpool MP about potential compensation, to which he replied he would “leave that to you”.
When the reporter proposed a fee in the range of £2,000 to £4,000 a month for two days’ work, Mr Benton replied “yes, I think that’s, yeah”, nodding.
While MPs may believe in a cause and support certain policy changes, it is “strictly forbidden” by the MP code of conduct to take payment for this.
The code also states they may not enter into “any contractual arrangement” that interferes with their “complete independence” in Parliament.
“Nor may an outside body (or person) use any contractual arrangement with a Member of Parliament as an instrument by which it controls, or seeks to control, his or her conduct in Parliament, or to punish that member for any parliamentary action.”
The Times alleges that Scott Benton’s proposed actions would “amount to a breach of the longstanding rules prohibiting “paid advocacy” as well as flout the new restriction on providing parliamentary advice that came into effect several days before the meeting.”
Mr Benton defended himself, however, saying that while he had agreed to meet the purported company, he had not provided his CV as had been requested during the meeting because “I was concerned that what was being asked of me was not within parliamentary rules”.
He said he later “contacted the Commons registrar and the parliamentary standards commissioner who clarified these rules for me and had no further contact with the company”.
“I did this before being made aware that the company did not exist and the individuals claiming to represent it were journalists.”
According to his register of members interests, Scott Benton has received more than £2,500 in free hospitality from the Betting and Gaming Council, including tickets to Royal Ascot and the Brit Awards.
The Times investigation comes just a week after the campaign group Led By Donkeys also conducted a sting operation of senior Tory MPs like Matt Hancock and Kwasi Kwarteng, posing as a fake company and filming them specify fees as high as £10,000-a-day to help them.
Downing Street and Conservative Party Headquarters declined to comment.
The Commons Standards Commissioner could choose to investigate the matter.
