The sun has risen to a new stench in the air as the latest so-called Tory sleaze crisis permeates throughout the atmosphere.
This time, former party leader Iain Duncan Smith – lazily known as IDS – is facing questions over his £25,000 a year second gig advising a multimillion-pound hand sanitiser company because he chaired a government taskforce that recommended new rules benefiting the firm.
As first reported by the Guardian, The MP led the Task Force on Innovation, Growth, and Regulatory Reform, which reported back in May, and recommended that alcohol-free hand sanitiser be given the green light for use in the UK, without acknowledging that he worked for a company that makes it, Byotrol.
“Hand hygiene (washing and sanitising) has been a crucial response to the coronavirus pandemic,” the task force report said.
“Current guidelines in the UK on non-alcohol based hand sanitisers are unclear. As a result, there is confusion in industry and among consumers as to what products are safe and effective to use, and we may be unnecessarily limiting the range of sanitising products available.
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“Government should review current guidance to place alcohol and non-alcohol-based on a level playing field.”
Byotrol supplies the NHS with 92 per cent of its alcohol-free sanitiser. The MP is still employed by the company and was also one of its directors from June 2009 to May 2010.
In a message to investors following the task force report, the company welcomed how an “influential UK government-sponsored taskforce has recommended a regulatory ‘green light’ for alcohol-free hand sanitisers”. Its directors were also quoted in a report as saying that it delivered a “powerful boost” to the firm.
Meanwhile, in August, the company announced that its revenue almost doubled and its pre-tax profits rocketed by more than 600 per cent following “exceptional demand” for its sanitising technologies due to the pandemic. It reported a revenue of £11.2m for the 12 months to 31 March, up from £6m the previous year.
And so, IDS has submerged himself into a quagmire.
Reacting to the news, people were annoyed about the addition of another chapter to the sleaze story.
Speaking to the Guardian, deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner accused IDS of a “brazen conflict of interest”.
“The prime minister needs to explain why he think it is justified for one of his MPs to be paid by a company that stands to benefit from a recommendation of a taskforce chaired by that same MP,” she said.
“This is exactly the kind of brazen conflict of interest that proves that the Conservatives think it is one rule for them and another for the rest of us.”
She continued: “Did this MP declare an interest when these matters were discussed and reported on by the task force? Why is the prime minister failing to act over these glaring conflicts of interest?”
Meanwhile, Steve Goodrich, head of research and investigations at Transparency International UK, told the publication: “The informality of a government taskforce might seem like an agile way to develop new policy but without basic governance arrangements it provides an open door to vested interests.
“If those proposing a major reform [could] benefit from it financially, this should at least be a matter of public record and probably should be subject to independent review.”
Labour MP Rupa Huq included him in a “list of sleazy Tories”:
While journalist Ian Dunt called it “utterly tawdry”:
Well that's utterly tawdry. At least Cox make it all look enviable. IDS just makes it look cheap. https://t.co/riJVk982Wy
— Ian Dunt (@IanDunt) November 10, 2021
Here’s how other people reacted:
It’s always the quiet ones…https://t.co/XkYzm57Ob3
— James Oh Brien (@mrjamesob) November 10, 2021
In the latest episode of Tory Corruption: man who received £25k from company that makes non-alcohol hand sanitiser chairs government task force that recommends green light for… non-alcohol hand sanitiser. https://t.co/aHSeq8IDVE
— David Schneider (@davidschneider) November 9, 2021
More of it! Iain Duncan Smith is facing questions over his £25,000-a-year second job advising a multimillion-pound hand sanitiser company after he chaired a government taskforce that recommended new rules benefiting the firm. World beating unrelenting corruption from the Tories.
— Paul Delaney (@coaimpaul) November 9, 2021
If you are paid by a company, and you also hold a position that allows you to make decisions about the regulation of that company - you are not being paid a “salary”. It’s a bribe. https://t.co/j8vlszxyoT
— Derek Bond (@derekbond) November 10, 2021
Iain Duncan-Smith must be pissed off his corruption only netted him £20kpa when Paterson got £100kpa
— Shakey (@ShakeyStephens) November 10, 2021
Is anyone really surprised by Iain Duncan Smith being on the take? The Tories just can't help themselves because they believe the rules apply to the working classes and not to them. Sleaze brought down John Major's government & it looks like it'll eventually do for Boris's too.
— BeauB (@beaubeau888) November 10, 2021
The stories are flooding out now, Tory after Tory turning out to have made dodgy money hand over fist from second "jobs", many of them involving incredibly suspect contracts handed out during the COVID pandemic. #TorySleaze #SnoutsInTheTrough https://t.co/X5Z76R04O3
— Carl Greatbatch (@CarlGreatbatch) November 10, 2021
Utter contempt for decency. The #TorySleazeParty https://t.co/lkas5bEfXf
— MrProgressiveAlliance 🇬🇧🇫🇷🇩🇪🇪🇺🌍 (@MrYesWeCan) November 10, 2021
I am about as shocked to discover that Iain Duncan Smith is a grifting shyster as I was to find that it was raining this morning when I woke up.
— JWExTheSpa (@SpaJw) November 10, 2021
Indy100 has contacted IDS and Byotrol to comment on this story.
