Michael Gove under investigation by standards watchdog

The investigation pertains to the housing secretary’s register of monetary pursuits

Tory minister Michael Gove is below investigation by the requirements watchdog.

The investigation pertains to the housing secretary’s register of monetary pursuits – nonetheless the precise particulars have as of but not been disclosed. That signifies that the entire variety of MPs now below investigation by the requirements commissioner, Daniel Greenberg, is at six, all of whom are Tories.

The most recent investigation will as soon as extra give rise to allegations of Tory sleaze. Though particular particulars regarding the investigation will stay confidential till it’s concluded, final week the Guardian revealed that Gove didn’t declare VIP hospitality he had loved at a soccer match with a Conservative donor in his register of pursuits. Gove had advisable the donor’s agency for multimillion-pound private protecting tools (PPE) contracts through the Covid-19 pandemic.

Gove, the levelling up secretary, loved leisure at a Queens Park Rangers soccer match in 2021 with David Meller, whose firm Meller Designs was awarded six PPE contracts price £164m following Mr Gove’s referral, the newspaper reported.

Responding to the allegations on the time, a spokesperson for Mr Gove stated: “Mr Gove is grateful to the Guardian for bringing this matter to his consideration. He has written to the related parliamentary authorities to tell them of a possible omission from the register of members’ monetary pursuits concerning two complimentary tickets he obtained from Queens Park Rangers Soccer Membership to a match in August 2021.”

Gove apologised for an ‘oversight’ on his half.

Information of the newest investigation additionally comes after Tory MP Scott Benton was suspended from the Commons for 35 days over his function in a lobbying sting, creating one other by-election headache for Sunak.

Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Ahead