MINISTERS have not broken any rules by accepting gifts from party donors and Lord Alli has not had influence on government policies, Business Minister Sarah Jones has said.
Speaking on GB News, she said: “The first thing to say, which is really important, is that no rules have been broken here. Nobody is suggesting they have.
“The issue in the previous government was lack of transparency, people not declaring things, and then nobody quite knowing where money was coming from and what it was for…
“There’s a difference between opposition and government. No rules have been broken here, but 12 weeks in, we’re saying, ‘okay, let’s look at these rules around hospitality and gifts, and what are the principles around it?’
“So many politicians, many journalists, many businesspeople are invited to events. Most politicians will turn most things down most of the time, but they go to build relationships, to talk to business, and it’s perfectly reasonable for them to do.”
She added: “There is nothing comparable in this to the huge scandals we saw over money and taking money to try and influence ministers and Owen Paterson and all of those scandals we saw over recent times.
“There is an issue here that the Prime Minister is responding to. He wants to build trust in politics. He wants us to be a force for good.
“He wants us to grow the economy and do all the things that will get people good jobs and more money in their pockets.
“We want to make sure we’re getting it right on hospitality. And that’s why he’s looking at the principles, and I think that’s the right thing to do.”
Asked about Lord Alli, she said: “He will completely cooperate with the investigation, of course, and he’s confident he’s registered everything in the way that he should have done. We need to let that investigation run its course.
“He’s been a lord for decades, and he’s been very involved in trying to deliver a Labour government for a very long time. That’s why he made the donations.
“He did because he wanted to deliver a Labour government. He was helping us do that. He had a [Downing St] pass for a very short period of time, and he doesn’t have one anymore.
“I don’t think there’s any question that he was trying to influence anything other than to deliver a Labour government.
“He had a pass for a very short period of time. It was a temporary pass. He doesn’t have it now, and that, I think, is the end of that.
“He has been involved in the Labour Party for decades. I can remember in 1997 he was involved in getting a Labour government.
“Back then, when he was much younger, he has made significant donations to the Labour Party, which we’re very grateful for, to help us get a Labour government.
“But that is the end of it. He is not influencing any policy at all.”
