WALTER CRONXITE discovers another Tory politician breaking the rules for the advantage of his party-loving political party
Under investigation: Tory MP Chris Philp
Chris Philp is the latest member of the Conservative Party Party Party to be placed under an official investigation.
Philp, the Tory MP for Croydon South, has been reported to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards for misusing his official email address for party political purposes.
According to the Westminster commissioner’s website, the complaint being examined is for “Use of facilities [Parliamentary email address] provided from the public purse”.
It seems very likely that Philp may be a repeat offender.
Up before the beak: how Philp’s offence appears on the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standard’s official website
He has been sending out bulletins to his constituents, even many who have never requested them, for much of his time since first being elected as an MP in 2015. Many of those newsletters have used his @parliament.uk email account.
Under Section V of the Parliamentary Behaviour Code, “Rules of Conduct”, paragraph 16, MPs are told, “Members are personally responsible and accountable for ensuring that their use of any expenses, allowances, facilities and services provided from the public purse is in accordance with the rules laid down on these matters. Members shall ensure that their use of public resources is always in support of their parliamentary duties. It should not confer any undue personal or financial benefit on themselves or anyone else, or confer undue advantage on a political organisation.”
Return to sender: MP Philp’s emails have been abusing his parliamentary privilege for party political purposes
Philp, a junior minister at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, is not the first, and probably not the last, MP to abuse their state-funded office for the advancement of their own political agenda.
His erstwhile parliamentary colleague, Gavin “Nuffink To Do Wiv Me Guv” Barwell was being caught taking liberties with public money and the facilities it provided throughout his Westminster career as MP for Croydon Central.
It is unlikely that Jones, or Philp, like Barfwell before them, will get any punishment worse than a stern talking to. And then the poor intern or office junior will get a flea in their ear for failing to check on the correct format for the MP’s dull old newsletter.
Before he gets hauled up before the parliamentary beak, though, Philp might also want to refresh his memory of para 9 of the Parliamentary Code: “Members are also expected to observe the principles… of respect, professionalism, understanding others’ perspectives, courtesy and acceptance of responsibility.”
Philp would do well to do us all a favour, too, and read that out to his bosses, Boris “Party, Party, Party” Johnson and Nadine Dorries.
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I’ve received several of his missives too after writing too him in his capacity as my local MP – I hadn’t realised at the time using my democratic right meant signing up to his newsletter. I notice he sends several petitions out also, with a sole purpose seemingly to farm further email addresses.
Be interesting to see how all this fits in with GDPR, the ICO may have a slightly less slap-on-the-wrist approach than the HoP.
I wrote to my MP (Jones, Labour) two or three years ago and she then put me on a mailing list for her self-adoring emails on a regular basis, despite notes from me telling her to stop. I had to set up an Outlook rule to delete them automatically when they arrived. I wish I’d known this unsolicited mailing was forbidden, I would have complained to the powers that be.
Small beer when compared with the usual snout in the trough, expenses and gravy train antics of many of our MPs.
He also has a column in the freely distributed advertising “CR” booklet monthly where he pushes his political objectives. Does he pay for this as part to advertise in this or is it provided freely to him? Just a collection of local adverts for the south of the borough and his pontificating column near the back of it.