Jacob Rees-Mogg investigated by standards watchdog
- Published
Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg is being investigated over a possible breach of rules on declaring outside earnings.
Commons standards commissioner Kathryn Stone did not reveal details of the allegations.
But they are understood to relate to £6m in loans Mr Rees-Mogg received from one of his own companies to help buy and renovate his Westminster home.
The watchdog is also investigating Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross for possible standards breaches.
Mr Rees-Mogg borrowed up to £2.94m a year in director's loans from Saliston Ltd, a UK-based property company owned by him, between 2018 and 2020.
Labour's shadow Commons leader Thangam Debbonaire said: "It is right that the standards commissioner is investigating what appears to be yet another egregious breach of the rules, with Jacob Rees-Mogg failing to declare millions of pounds of director's loans.
"The prime minister also needs to investigate whether the ministerial code has been breached."
'Temporary cash flow'
Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner separately wrote to the independent adviser on ministers' interests, Lord Geidt, over the loans.
In her letter, Mrs Rayner said that failing to declare directors' loans worth £2.94m a year "allowed Mr Rees-Mogg to borrow a large sum of money at a very low interest rate" and argued that it "should have been declared".
Douglas Ross admits not fully declaring his income as a football referee
Mr Rees-Mogg said said the loans had been properly declared, after the story was first reported in the Mail on Sunday, external.
In a statement, he told BBC News: "Saliston is 100% owned by me and this is declared clearly in the Commons register and to the Cabinet Office. It has no activities that interact with government policy."
He said the loans were primarily taken out for the purchase and refurbishment of his Westminster home "as temporary cash flow measures".
"All loans have either been repaid with interest in accordance with HMRC rules or paid as dividends and taxed accordingly," he added.
"The register asks for earnings, not loans, which is why I was declared an as a non-remunerated director until I resigned on entering government. Loans are not earnings and are not declarable in the register of interests."
Mr Rees-Mogg resigned as a director of Saliston in 2019, but his wife Helena remains on the board.
A spokesman for the North East Somerset MP said he would comply with commissioner's investigation fully and answer all questions.
Conservative MP Douglas Ross is also among the MPs being investigated for possible breaches of the MPs' code of conduct.
He referred himself to the watchdog last month for failing to declare about £17,000 of earnings while serving as an MP.
Mr Ross, who is leader of the Scottish Tories, apologised for failing to fully record his MSP salary and earnings as a football referee in his register of interests at Westminster.
At the time, he said it was a "bad error…of my own making".