6 2GM Thursday November 11 2021 | the times
News
Boris Johnson’s chief whip admitted
yesterday that he approved Sir Geof-
frey Cox’s decision to vote by proxy in
the House of Commons while he was
working as a lawyer in the Caribbean.
Mark Spencer is facing fresh anger
from Conservative MPs amid questions
about the work done outside parlia-
ment by Cox and other senior figures.
It emerged this week that in May Cox
used absentee voting rules introduced
as a public health measure during the
coronavirus pandemic to vote from the
British Virgin Islands (BVI), where he
was conducting legal work in an in-
quiry ordered by the Foreign Office.
In a defiant statement Cox, a former
attorney-general, said this was an ar-
rangement signed off by Spencer, the
government chief whip. “He consulted
the chief whip specifically on this issue
and was advised that it was appropri-
ate,” the statement said.
Cox’s intervention comes at a tricky
parliamentary moment for Spencer,
who has faced criticism from Conserv-
ative MPs for whipping them to back an
overhaul of the standards system in a
failed attempt to save the career of
Owen Paterson, the former cabinet
minister, last week.
A spokesman for Spencer, who is un-
derstood to be Cox’s personal whip,
confirmed that he had agreed to Cox’s
proxy vote “in order to assist with tack-
ling the pandemic at a time when physi-
cal attendance in the Commons was ac-
tively discouraged”. But the spokesman
added: “All MPs were expected to fol-
low proceedings and participate virtu-
ally. They were also expected to con-
tinue performing their primary task of
serving their constituents.”
There is little sympathy in the Com-
mons for Cox, the highest-earning MP,
after he was referred to the anti-sleaze
watchdog for using his parliamentary
office to take part remotely in a legal
hearing in the BVI. The Labour Party
said the video, uncovered by The Times,
showed Cox committing an “egregious,
brazen breach of the rules”.
Cox’s statement admitted taking part
in the hearing from Westminster but
denied breaking the MPs’ code of con-
duct, which requires him to use his par-
liamentary office only for parliament-
ary activity. “He understands that the
matter has been referred to the parlia-
mentary commissioner and he will
fully co-operate with her investi-
gation,” it said. “He does not believe
that he breached the rules but will of
course accept the judgment of the par-
liamentary commissioner or of the
committee on the matter.”
Cox has earned more than £6 million
from outside interests since entering
the Commons in 2005, an analysis by
The Guardian found. In some years, he
has devoted an average of more than 30
hours a week to his second jobs, accord-
ing to analysis by the Daily Mail. In
recent months he has been absent for 12
votes while declaring paid legal work.
Yesterday Sajid Javid, the health sec-
retary, said that MPs should not be us-
ing their parliamentary offices for pri-
vate work. He told Times Radio: “Whe-
ther it’s your parliamentary office, or
whatever it is, the purpose of that is to
do your parliamentary work.”
Conservative MPs are furious with
Cox, who earned about £1 million from
his legal work over the past year. A gov-
ernment source said: “Don’t underesti-
mate the level of anger with Geoffrey.
He has taken advantage of the proxy
vote system while earning huge sums of
money.” One MP said: “I don’t really
care about someone doing a few hours
of extra work, I do care if, like Geoffrey
Cox, we rarely see you here.” But there
was frustration too that Spencer had
not anticipated the problems with let-
ting Cox vote by proxy from the BVI. “It
could help if Boris just sacks him — he’s
clearly not the right person for that job,”
one member of the 2019 intake said.
An ally of Spencer said that the chief
whip was “defiant” about the recent
burst of criticism because “he thinks Ja-
cob [Rees-Mogg] and No 10 are as much
to blame as him”.
They added: “He accepts he’s not
mates with Boris — he was made chief
because he happened to be Boris’s whip
at the time of the leadership election —
and they don’t share a background.
They’ve repaid him by using him as a
human shield this week.”
One minister said: “In the short term
they’re not going to move him because
this No 10 keeps people when they’re in
trouble. But he’s taken a lot of hits and
it’s hard to see him staying when the
next reshuffle comes around.”
MPs’ second jobs, letters, page 32
Cox’s outside work shakes public faith
in parliament, leading article, page 33News Politics
Tory anger as chief whip admits
Henry Zeffman
Chief Political Correspondent
Steven Swinford Political Editor
Did you break the rules?
Sir Geoffrey Cox has now confirmed
that he did take part in a legal
hearing on September 14 remotely
from his parliamentary office.
He says he “does not believe that
he breached the rules” in doing so.
That is now a question likely to be
answered by the parliamentary
commissioner for standards, to
whom Cox has been referred by
Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy
leader.
The key question regards the
instruction in the code of conduct
that MPs “ensure that their use of
public resources is always in
support of their parliamentary
duties”. Owen Paterson was found
to have breached this rule by
hosting meetings for his clients in
his office but a video call may be
viewed differently.
Who are your other clients?
Cox has only registered the
solicitors who have instructed him
in his legal work rather than those
whom he is ultimately representing
in proceedings. He is not required to
do so by the rules but there may be
increasing calls for him, and other
MPs who also work as lawyers, to be
more forthcoming on this front.Are you fulfilling your
parliamentary duties?
Cox was defiant yesterday, saying
he worked 70-hour weeks and
“always ensures that his casework
on behalf of his constituents is given
primary importance and fully
carried out”.
He said that when voting by
proxy, a procedure introduced to
minimise contacts between MPs
during the pandemic, it made no
difference whether he was at home
or abroad. It is ultimately up to his
party and constituency to decide
whether they accept that defence.
Certainly stories about Cox’s
extensive outside work are not new
yet he enjoys a sizeable majority.Why do you want to be an MP?
Cox has spoken in one debate since
being sacked as attorney-general
last year. There have been other
issues of legal significance to which
he might have contributed. It is
arguably unclear why he wants to
remain a member of parliament.‘He’s paid to be here,
to look after our
area and interests’
L
ocal Conservative
members of Sir Geoffrey
Cox’s Devon constituency
have dismissed criticism of
him working abroad as a
barrister but there is disquiet
among some voters on the streets
of its market towns (Will
Humphries, Southwest
Correspondent, writes).
The former attorney-general,
who is the highest-earning MP, has
defended working abroad as a
lawyer for the British VirginIslands in April, May and June this
year, while voting remotely in the
House of Commons.
He has also admitted conducting
private legal work in September
from his taxpayer-funded
parliamentary office. The Labour
Party has referred him to the
Commons anti-sleaze watchdog.
Peter Crozier, a retired farmer
and Conservative district councillor,
spoke for many local party members
when he said he believed “the media
blows everything out of proportion”.“He is well known as a good
constituency MP,” Crozier said. “His
legal work has been highlighted
many times during his time as MP
but he is just a successful lawyer.”
Asked about Cox earning
£1 million while working abroad,
Crozier said: “What do you expect
from a successful lawyer? I have had
four different MPs in my 40 years
living here and he is just as attentive
as any MP we have had.”
Philip Sanders, 74, a retired
healthcare manager and sitting
county councillor, has been an
active member of the local
Conservative association for more
than 20 years. He said he was
“relieved” to have an MP who had a
“proper job” and said Cox was able
to stand up to government whips
because he didn’t rely on being an
MP to earn a living.
“I am much more nervous when
someone comes straight out of
university and then is a
parliamentary researcher and thenQuestions for MP