Ex-MP Andrew Bridgen ‘broke guidelines’ with £4.5m court docket battle mortgage | Politics | News | EUROtoday

Former MP Andrew Bridgen broke House of Commons guidelines by accepting a £4.47million interest-free mortgage and failing to declare it, a watchdog has dominated. The money, from businessman Jeremy Hosking, was used to pay authorized charges in a bitter court docket battle with Mr Bridgen’s personal brother after they fell out over a household enterprise.

Under House of Commons guidelines, Mr Bridgen did nothing mistaken in accepting the cash however ought to have revealed it within the Register of Members’ Interests, which is printed on Parliament’s web site, inside 28 days. He did finally declare the cash following an investigation by a newspaper. The Commons Standards Committee mentioned: “We hope that Mr Bridgen will now behave honourably and acknowledge that he was wrong, even if honestly wrong.”

And the Committee, which incorporates MPs and out of doors consultants, mentioned Mr Bridgen ought to have apologised within the Chamber of the Commons – however it’s too late now, after he misplaced his seat in final yr’s General Election.

Mr Bridgen had been Conservative MP for North West Leicestershire however fell out with the Tory get together and joined the Reclaim Party, which is funded by Mr Hosking – a businessman reportedly value £375million.

The former MP later left Reclaim too and stood within the constituency as an unbiased final yr. The seat was gained by Labour.

He did declare separate loans used for political functions, however argued he didn’t have to declare a mortgage of £4,470,576.42 as a result of it was used for a personal authorized case.

But the Standards Committee mentioned: “The purpose for which the money was provided was private and personal; Mr Bridgen’s relationship with a political donor nonetheless raised sufficient reason to make such donations a matter for registration.”

His authorized battle towards his brother Paul involved the vegetable processing agency AB Produce. Andrew Bridgen claimed the household agency had behaved prejudicially in direction of him as a shareholder, however misplaced a case within the High Court. Judge Brian Rawlings discovered Andrew Bridgen was “dishonest” about his motives when he reported his brother for fraud to the police, Lloyd’s Bank and the accountancy agency KPMG.

The former MP was a widely known determine at Westminster and an outspoken sceptic of Covid lockdowns and vaccines.