Red Wall Tory and GB News presenter Dehenna Davison could face criminal proceedings and a £5,000 fine for breaking business rules.
Davison – who hosts The Political Correction on GB News with Nigel Farage – had a firm struck off the official Companies House register last month after failing to respond to two warnings.
The 28-year-old Bishop Auckland parliamentarian set up PR and communications firm DSD22 Ltd in September 2020 – and she earns as much as £369 each Sunday for presenting her GB News programme.
Responding to the revelations, published by the Daily Mirror, Labour chair Anneliese Dodds said: “Boris Johnson has broken his promise to cap MPs’ earnings from second jobs and we’ve now got a Tory MP failing to fulfil directorship minimum requirements.
“The PM needs to ensure his MPs are focused on the day job.”
Davison has not responded to a request for comment.
‘Impractical’
It comes just days after plans to limit MPs’ earnings from second jobs were abandoned, months after the issue sparked a sleaze scandal that engulfed Johnson’s government.
According to The Guardian, ministers told the Commons standards committee that a time limit or cap on outside earnings would be “impractical”.
Johnson had pledged to clamp down on second jobs following the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal and outrage over Geoffrey Cox, who has been paid nearly £6 million as a lawyer since becoming an MP, even voting by proxy on days he was being paid to work for outside interests.
Speaking at the time, Dominic Raab – the deputy prime minister – said the government would back limits on outside earnings, saying: “You could do it in one of two ways, you could do it by the amount or you could do it by the number of hours. We’ve asked the committee on standards to work up the detail by January.”
But in a submission to the Commons standards committee, ministers revealed they no longer back such limits.
U-turn
The verdict, from Steve Barclay, the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, and Mark Spencer, the leader of the House of Commons, said: “It is the government’s initial view that the imposition of fixed constraints such as time limits on the amount of time that Members can spend on outside work would be impractical.
“The imposition of time limits would not necessarily serve to address recent concerns over paid advocacy and the primary duty of MPs to serve their constituents. It could be possible, for example, for a Member to conduct work within the accepted time limits but that does not necessarily mean such work is ‘appropriate’ even if it did not constitute ‘paid advocacy’.
“In respect of a cap on earnings from outside work to impose such a limit could serve to prohibit activities which do not bring undue influence to bear on the political system. Earnings from activities such as writing books for example, would not preclude Members from meeting their principal duty to their constituents,” they add.
Related: Cox up: Tories drop plans to cap MPs’ second job salaries after sleaze row
