It’s ‘jobs for the boy’ in Sutton, as new LibDem MP Taylor is accused of a stitch-up over the recruitment to a tax-payer-funded staff positon of a chum who made a £3,000 donation to his election campaign.
By CARL SHILTON, investigations editor
Caught out again: Luke Taylor, the new MP for Sutton and Cheam, doesn’t seem able to avoid controversy
“This would appear to be a clear conflict of interest.”
That is the view of a senior Liberal Democrat figure in the north of England after a Labour MP in York gave a well-paid parliamentary job, funded by tax-payers, to one of his political donors.
But here in sordid south London, there’s no such qualms, after Luke Taylor, the new Liberal Democrat MP for Sutton and Cheam, hired his LibDem councillor colleague, Ed Parsley, on his staff at Westminster just weeks after Parsley donated £3,000 to help Taylor’s General Election campaign.
Taylor remains a councillor in Sutton, receiving £12,616 basic allowance from the council, in addition to his MP’s salary of £91,346. “Doubles all-round!” as Private Eye might say.
Inside Sutton asked Taylor if it was acceptable for an MP to give a job to someone who had recently provided him with a very generous political donation.
We received a response from a “spokesman” (another one of the publicly-funded staffers working in Taylor’s Westminster office): “As a local councillor with deep knowledge of the issues facing the people of Sutton and Cheam, Edward is supporting Luke in hitting the ground running as a constituency MP.
“Like many local residents, Edward donated to support the Liberal Democrats in Sutton and Cheam and this is in no way connected to his appointment to this role.” So that’s alright then…
According to his register of interests at Sutton Council, at the time he made the political donation, Parsley, who represents Sutton Central ward, was employed by the NHS at the Royal Marsden Hospital. Previously, Parsley had worked at St Helier Hospital.
Earlier this week, the council register was updated to reflect his new employment in Taylor’s office.
One in the Eye: Sutton LibDems’ new MP has caused a lasting controversy
As one of Sutton’s undemocratic Liberal Democrat councillors, Parsley also receives £12,616 a year, plus a “special responsibility allowance” of £10,962 as vice-chair of the housing, economy and business committee: a total of £23,578, all on top of his salary at Westminster.
It is commonplace for MPs to recruit local councillors and political activists to their teams. But the perception of appointing a political donor to a taxpayer-funded role, while entirely legal, is more sensitive.
Both of the Conservatives’ former Sutton MPs, Elliot Colburn and Paul Scully, employed Tory councillors on their teams. But those councillors never made generous political donations to their future bosses.
Taylor’s line that employing a political donor is nothing to be concerned about is not a view shared by his party colleagues elsewhere. Earlier this month, Nigel Ayre, the leader of the LibDems on City of York Council, slammed the Labour MP for York Outer, Luke Charters … because he gave a parliamentary job to a political donor.
According to The York Press, Ayre said Charters had serious questions to answer following the appointment of Owen Trotter, who had donated £2,300 to Charters’ campaign fund.
“This would appear to be a clear conflict of interest,” Ayre said of a situation directly comparable to Taylor hiring donor Parsley.
Generous donor: Sutton Central councillor Ed Parsley’s now got a new day job
Taylor has not been an MP for six months yet, but official records show that he already has five employees based at Westminster and at his constituency office (which will be at 40 Upper Mulgrave Road in Cheam). Three of his staff are LibDem councillors, two from Sutton (Parsley, and non-donating Stonecot councillor Rob Beck) and one from Richmond-upon-Thames.
According to his most recent declaration of interest, Taylor has so far received £25,500 in donations, including £2,000 from Sutton Council leader Barry “Basher” Lewis.
In May 2024, Taylor himself donated £2,500 to Sutton Liberal Democrats.
Taylor has maintained his role as a councillor in Sutton West and East Cheam, but has resigned his role as chair of the Sutton local committee. He was ridiculed in the last issue of Private Eye for claiming he spent 10 hours a week, or 520 hours a year, in this role as chair of the local committee, which met just twice in the 12 months prior to his resignation. Meaning he received £5,481 for each two-hour meeting he chaired.
Nice work if you can get it.
Read more: LibDem Taylor rattled as questions of religion won’t go away
Read more: Now ‘Basher’ Lewis knocks out debate on polluting incinerator
Read more: Sutton council leader denies punching colleague at meeting
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
