Labour MP guilty and must apologise to the House

The Labour MP for Birmingham Erdington, Jack Dromey has been found guilty by the Committee of Standards and Privileges of failing to declare payments totalling £27,867 from the UNITE union when he was Deputy General Secretary of the UNITE Union after he'd entered the House. 


For months, Mr Dromey’s entry in the register of Members’ interests read: “Deputy General Secretary of Unite Union... I am leaving this position and have declined my salary in the meantime.” But it was updated on October 4 2010 to read: “Deputy General Secretary of Unite Union...until 30 October 2010. “Between the General Election and 30 October 2010, I received £27,867 in salary which included pay in lieu of notice.”.


He also "on a number of occasions" failed to declare his interest in the House of Commons. The report by the Committee on Standards and Privileges acknowledges the MPs’ co-operation and repeated apology. But it goes on to say that it might have ordered him to apologise to the Commons if he was not an inexperienced MP. 


Mr Dromey who entered the House at the general election of 2010 and is the husband of the then Leader of the Opposition Ms Harriet Harman. The Committee have accepted a written apology from Mr Dromey but have added “We restrict ourselves to accepting Mr Dromey’s offer to apologise by way of a point of order on the floor of the House for his failure to declare interests”.