Conservative MP Adam Afriyie, who lobbied parliament about medical cannabis, failed to declare his role as chairman of a distribution company for the drug.
Conservative MP Adam Afriyie, who lobbied parliament about medical cannabis, failed to declare his role as chairman of a distribution company for the drug.
The Times revealed that the MP for Windsor took up his role at Elite Growth on October 22, however there was no record of his role declared on the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.
Elite Growth describes itself as ‘creating diverse distribution and product development channels to facilitate widespread patient access to a variety of medications and more’, claiming that it works successfully with the NHS to overcome challenges that patients and Doctors’ face in the UK and beyond.
Commons rules state that members must notify within 28 days any change in their registrable interests if they consider “that it might reasonably be thought by others to influence his or her actions or words as a member in the same way as a financial interest”.
Afriyie previously hit the headlines this year after facing bankruptcy proceedings from a petition over unpaid tax. Once tipped to be a future Tory party leader, he has been embroiled in a dispute for several years over his “past business interests”.
On the latest allegations, a source told the Times that Afriyie’s role was unpaid and that he had approached the register regarding the position on November 10.
In debates in the House of Commons, Afriyie has spoken about the benefits of medical cannabis, both before and after joining the company.
The Times reported that on November 3, 12 days after his new role was announced, Afriyie said that he had met the father of a girl who “was literally in tears because his lovely daughter has multiple fits daily”.
He failed to mention however that the girl’s father was Robin Emerson, a co-founder and director of the firm that employed him, Elite Growth.
LFF has approached Afriyie for comment.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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