The Times: British MPs on russian Payroll
British MPs have demanded that peers give up financial interests linked to russia amid concerns over moscow’s escalating aggression.
An overhaul of the Lords code of conduct to tighten the rules around transparency and links to foreign nations has also been proposed by MPs and campaigners for transparency.
Their calls come after an investigation by The Times into peers with interests linked to russia, and during the fallout from a nerve agent attack by russian spies in Salisbury in March.
In 2017 The Guardian wrote that MPs who have accepted up to £1,000 an hour to appear on television shows broadcast on RT, formerly russia Today, have defended their links to the station, classed by the US government last week as a kremlin propaganda vehicle. Analysis of the Commons register of interests then showed at least 10 have been paid handsomely for appearing on the channel.
Earlier the analysis of official data by Statista for The Independent showed that British MPs earned more than £7 million in total outside their parliamentary wages in 2014, with Tories accounting for the largest proportion.
It also showed that former Respect MP George Galloway earned more than £300,000 extra in 2014, mostly from his regular £1,600-an-hour appearances on Iran’s Press TV and russia Today.