Baroness Michelle Mone no longer needs to register her personal and business interests after starting her leave of absence from the House of Lords, we can reveal today.
Under the rules, her register of interests is now blank with a post which simply reads: “On leave of absence; exempt from registration”.
Her posts and financial interests – which were removed the day after she started her leave of absence on December 6 as the Lords investigate her lobbying on behalf of a PPE company that later won £200m of Covid contracts – can be located from her page by checking amendments but no new interests will be added.
On December 7, a total of 13 directorships, financial interests and shareholdings were removed from the opening page of her entry in the register before being archived.
These included a post registering her appointment as a government entrepreneurship tsar, her role as a trustee in her husband Doug Barrowman’s foundation and shareholdings in an online retailer.
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Willie Sullivan, of the Electoral Reform Society Scotland, said: “Even when not active in the House of Lords peers still hold significant influence so it’s only right that the public can see in whose interest they’re exercising it.
“The lack of even a basic level of transparency when on a leave of absence raises serious questions about the ability of peers to dip in and out of the House of Lords when it suits them and hide potential conflicts from the public eye.”
Tom Brake, director of Unlock Democracy, a group campaigning for a written constitution and electoral change, said: “The ability of peers like Baroness Mone to switch off and on their membership by taking a leave of absence brings the House of Lords into disrepute.
“It is time this practice, usually invoked by peers so they can pursue their business interests, is brought to an end.”
Mone’s representatives said she had no influence on how the page is displayed online: “We can confirm Baroness Michelle Mone has not changed anything.”
The House of Lords said: “You can still see what her interests were on the last day at which she was an active member of the House, that information has not been removed.
“While on leave of absence she is not required to register new interests so it would be potentially misleading to leave the old details up which may well have changed.”
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