An SNP MP has been branded Westminster’s junket queen after a Sunday Mail investigation revealed an astonishing £44,151 of freebies – many from questionable sources. Dr Lisa Cameron has accepted tens of thousands of pounds worth of hospitality from tax havens, dictatorships, a gambling firm, bankers and other groups.
Much of the international travel, luxury hotels, VIP event tickets, dining and drinks is the result of the MP’s membership of 68 controversial All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs), according to records dated July 2022. She has previously been on another 43, taking the total to 111.
An estimated £30million has been poured into APPGs from outside interests over the past five years and there are fears they could be the source of Westminster’s next big lobbying scandal.
Labour MSP Monica Lennon said: “Jetting around the globe and acting like a junket queen is not what people deserve from their MP, especially when some of the trips appear to be associated with tax havens and dictatorships.”
Susannah Fitzgerald, of Transparency International UK, said: “It beggars belief the rules still allow our parliamentarians to take all-expenses-paid overseas trips funded by administrations with highly questionable records on corruption and human rights.”
The House of Commons’ official Committee on Standards has warned APPGs could be used as a “back door” for commercial interests and is investigating how they are run and regulated. Through Cameron’s membership of dozens of groups, she has travelled the world since becoming an MP in 2015.
While there is no suggestion she has broken any rules, she has accepted flights and luxury hotel accommodation from the tax havens of Switzerland and San Marino – paid for by the countries’ governments at a cost of £2300 and £2410.
Cameron has also accepted trips paid for by officials from authoritarian dictatorships. She accepted £3865 of flights, accommodation and meals from the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs in February.
A trip to Hong Kong paid for by the former colony’s China-controlled government cost a total of £10,359 in 2017. The UK Abraham Accords Group and Middle East Forum Ltd paid for a trip to the UAE in January worth £3354.25 aimed at strengthening peace in the Middle East.
In August 2019 Cameron accepted £2093 of flights and accommodation from the The Great Britain China Centre,
Prudential Plc, China Inter-national Capital Corporation and All-China Youth Federation to visit Beijing and Jinan.
The MP has also been to New York twice, Washington, Tokyo, Taipei, Kenya, Zambia, Berlin, Brussels and Copenhagen for a “sustainable fashion summit”.
During her time in parliament, she also accepted tickets to the Mercury Music Prize and dinner from the British
Phonographic Industry worth £570 last year and a £325 hospitality ticket to watch the Ayr Gold Cup from bookies William Hill in 2018.
Lennon added: “It’s not clear why so many trips were necessary and how they helped local people. It will certainly raise a few eyebrows in East Kilbride. Lisa Cameron may argue it’s within the rules, however, there’s no denying that some of these All-Party Parliamentary Groups raise governance and transparency questions and APPGs have the whiff of the next big Westminster lobbying scandal about them.”
Fitzgerald added: “Too many MPs and peers show poor judgment when they accept hospitality from foreign governments with dubious records, with their presence potentially giving the impression of respectability or acceptance of these regimes. Until the rules are changed, all parliamentarians should seriously consider if it is appropriate to accept these sorts of trips – not just whether they are allowed to.
“All-Party Parliamentary Groups can help inform debate and policy making but they are also a well-known route for private companies and foreign governments to gain direct access to MPs and peers.”
Cameron, 50, was a clinical psychologist before becoming the SNP MP for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow at the 2015 general election.
In 2016, she was accused of hypocrisy when it emerged she owned five ex-council houses, which were managed by her husband, South Lanarkshire councillor Mark Horsham. She had campaigned against the sale of council houses at the 2015 general election.
Cameron said: “The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office is based in my constituency and my engagement with parliamentary foreign affairs dates from 2015 when I was a member of the SNP Foreign Affairs Team, with a remit across Asia including China, and as SNP climate justice spokesperson, when I was tasked with engaging with developing countries across Africa and climate-impacted island communities.
“It is known that I am one of a minority of SNP MPs with Jewish family background and was widely reported in 2019 that I suffered trauma when my office was targeted with swastikas.
“My response since this time has been to engage as an active vice-chair of the APPG Against Anti-Semitism and to travel with the chair to the Middle East including Qatar and UAE to advocate progress on anti-Semitism, terrorism and human rights.”
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