Chinese Whispers
The MP for Bridgwater & West Somerset appears to have received a donation of £9,000 from a company linked to the Chinese state. Did he? And how has it influenced his activities in Parliament
LC Special 10
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Chinese Whispers
At the start of January, Tortoise Media and Sky News announced that they had created a new searchable database of political donations. The new database lists all donations according to Parliament’s Register of Interests, both to individual MPs and also to All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs). These are informal cross-party groups that are run by and for Members of the Commons and Lords. On occasion they can invite individuals and organisations from outside to get involved. They have no official status, but they represent bodies of expertise/interest that may be called upon to give evidence and lobby Parliament.
A total of £20m has been given to them since 2019 alone
APPGs are frequently funded by outside donations; in fact on a scale that many would find surprising. A total of £20m has been given to them since 2019 alone.
Of course, just as interesting are the donations received by individual MPs. Inevitably, the first thing Leveller® Confidential did was scour the records for lists of readies flowing into the coffers of our local MPs.
Largely this proved uneventful, until we got to Ian Liddell-Grainger, the MP for Bridgwater & West Somerset. The Sky/Tortoise register records him as receiving £9,559 from China General Nuclear Corporation (CGNC). This should not come as a massive surprise. CGNC are financing the building of Hinkley C nuclear power station and had hoped to be more involved in actually building other nuclear plants in Britain.
The problem here is that CGNC is not an independent Chinese business. It is part of the Chinese Government.