Among the MPs who voted by proxy so that they could attend an England game were Tory chief whip Mark Spencer, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Policing Minister Kit Malthouse.
A dozen Tory MPs, including the chief whip, cast proxy votes while attending a Euro 2020 football game at Wembley.
Among the MPs who voted by proxy so that they could attend an England game were Tory chief whip Mark Spencer, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Policing Minister Kit Malthouse.
It comes amid growing scrutiny of MPs and how they spend their time, following Tory sleaze and corruption allegations. Among the examples in recent days was that of former attorney general Geoffrey Cox who cast a vote in Parliament while working 4,000 miles away in the British Virgin Islands, earning nearly £1 million from his second job. In the past year the QC worked for law firm Withers, representing the tax haven’s government in an inquiry into governance and possible corruption.
Politico revealed that four ministers and eight Tory backbenchers went to the England v Denmark semi-final match on July 7. The match kicked off at 8pm, just over an hour after a 6:59pm vote in the House of Commons on the EU Settlement Scheme.
Most of the MPs who were in attendance managed to get free tickets because they were sponsored by private companies. Eleven of the MPs attended the match on behalf of gambling company Entain, which owns several bookmakers in the U.K.
A government official told Politico that proxy votes were being used by almost all MPs at the time to maintain social distancing in the Commons.
The other Tory MPs at the England match at the time were Nigel Adams, Scott Benton, Philip Davies, Esther McVey, Laurence Robertson, Mark Jenkinson, Craig Whittaker, Mike Wood and Aaron Bell.
Labour MPs Jonathan Ashworth and shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Reynolds also voted by proxy in an earlier division and were also in attendance at Wembley that evening.
Labour MPs Stephen Kinnock, Charlotte Nichols, Sharon Hodgson and Toby Perkins were among other MPs that enjoyed hospitality packages for the semi-final match.
A Labour spokesperson told Politico that they were following advice from party chiefs to vote by proxy in order to reduce crowding in physical voting lobbies during the pandemic. A party official stressed Labour abstained in the later vote that evening.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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