LEAKED emails have revealed Tory peer Charles Chetwynd-Talbot used his position in the House of Lords as leverage to “open doors” for private firm SpectrumX.
SpectrumX, a hand sanitiser and disinfectant manufacturer, were lobbying ministers for regulatory approval of their Covid sanitiser products which included non-alcohol hand gels and a sanitising mist.
In April 2021, the Health and Safety Executive issued the company with a cease and desist letter over their “SpectriPOD” product, which coated users with a dry mist of solution, that the company claimed would “deactivate all pathogens including Covid-19”.
However, the Executive warned that spraying people with disinfectant was “not recommended under any circumstances”, issuing a cease and desist letter. The watchdog said it had “specific concerns that the product you are supplying for use in your disinfecting tunnel/portal/booth is in breach of legislation.”
In leaked emails seen by The Sunday Times, Chetwynd-Talbot, the Earl of Shrewsbury, boasted his position in the Lords would enable him to get SpectrumX’s products in front of ministers and an MP working for Boris Johnson. He clarified that access was contingent on payment.
Chetwynd-Talbot was asked to join SpectrumX as a non-executive director, confirming in emails that there was a “verbal agreement” he would be paid a “monthly retainer fee of £3000 plus VAT”. Chetwynd-Talbot now denies having taken up the position.
Prior to the leaked emails release, Chetwynd-Talbot was cleared of lobbying by the commissioners, but found to have committed a minor break by failing to register SpectrumX as a client between July 2020 and November 2021.
Speaking to The Sunday Times, Chetwynd-Talbot claimed he hasn’t been involved with SpectrumX since January.
He said: “The parliamentary commissioner had access to everything I sent the various departments and everything else. I have no further comment to make whatsoever on that. It was looked into very thoroughly indeed. I was completely exonerated and in my view that was the end of it.”
Lawyers for Damian Hancox, company director of SpectrumX said the pods were “designed . . . at the outbreak of the pandemic with a view to preventing the spread of Covid” and had been used in “good faith”. They added that as soon “as our client received the letter referred to he ceased and desisted”.
Last week, Lord Christopher Geidt stepped down as Johnson's ethics tsar, after stating the UK Government put him in an "impossible and odious" position. This makes him the second person to resign from the post in two years, putting pressure on Johnson who has already lost the confidence of more than 40% of his own MPs.
A 2021 Opinium poll showed that 53% of Scottish voters believe the Tory party to be corrupt.
