Reform deputy leader Richard Tice under investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog
Tice was furious that the news overshadowed Reform’s press conference yesterday
The parliamentary standards commissioner has launched an investigation into the Reform deputy leader Richard Tice.
The watchdog didn’t provide any details on what the investigation is about, other than saying the inquiry was opened on 28 July and will be conducted by the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Daniel Greenberg.
In a post on X, Tice wrote that the complaint relates to a Commons debate about Israeli influence on 22 June.
He wrote: “Standards Commissioner is considering complaint by anti semitic anti Israel lobby group over whether I should have referenced my register of interests at start of a debate on UK democracy and Israeli influence.”
Tice did not specify the name of the group who made the complaint.
The Reform deputy leader spoke in the debate in June without mentioning that he’d taken a trip to Israel the previous September, which was paid for by a pro-Israel lobbying group.
He declared the trip in his register of interests, however, MPs are also required to verbally disclose interests such as when speaking in debates, tabling written questions or applying for urgent questions.
Before Nigel Farage resigned as an MP, Greenberg had been investigating Nigel Farage’s failure to declare the £5 million gift he received from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.
Tice reacted furiously to the BBC reporting on the parliamentary standards commissioner’s investigation.
He wrote on X: “BBC BIAS
“Was it pure coincidence BBC released this story at 11am, exactly start time [sic] of our press conference?
“Why did they do major Breaking News push notification on this at same time?
Why not same for Sammy Wilson MP, accused of same point?”.
Last week, the Reform politician hit out at the BBC for reporting that the Metropolitan Police is investigating payments made to Reform via a company Tice owns, called Britain Means Business.
Tice said that his company received a £1 million donation from Fiona Cottrell, the mother of George Cottrell. He later transferred £500,000 of that sum to Reform.
However, the National Crime Agency had stated that it was “unable to trace the source of the money”.
Tice questioned whether the Met Police is engaged in a “politically motivated smear campaign” against Reform as he said he was unaware of the investigation, and called the BBC’s reporting of the facts “a hit job”.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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