Ian Paisley again found in breach of rules over luxury holiday – but DUP MP to escape punishment

However, despite ruling that the DUP MP has again broken the code of conduct for MPs, Kathryn Stone’s decision - which has been published today in a 101-page document - is that he does not need to be punished.

The North Antrim MP’s visit to the idyllic archipelago took place in autumn 2016 and Ms Stone, the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards in the House of Commons, said that she began investigating on her own initiative after watching an exposé by BBC Spotlight in December 2018.

At the time of the programme, Mr Paisley was adamant that an unidentified personal friend had part-funded his family’s stay in the Maldives and so he did not need to declare the gift.

He told the commissioner that the holiday was “partially funded by a long-standing personal friend as a birthday present” for his 50th birthday.

However, the commissioner rejected that, saying: “I concluded - on the balance of probabilities - that a corporate body, rather than a personal friend of Mr Paisley’s, had absorbed the cost of the hospitality.

“Although I saw no evidence that Mr Paisley had engaged in any activities relating to his parliamentary role during his visit, the circumstances were not analogous to a family holiday which was partly paid for by someone else because of a purely personal relationship.

“The fact that Mr Paisley had no direct relationship with the donor created a presumption in favour of registration, and I was persuaded that having received complimentary rooms was something which others might reasonably consider to influence Mr Paisley, which made registration a requirement.”

Ms Stone found that the North Antrim MP was therefore in breach of the code of conduct for MPs.

However, she went on to say: “On the basis of all the evidence available to me, bearing in mind that I had concluded that the true donor had been a corporate body and not a foreign government, I did not find that Mr Paisley had acted in breach of the rules on the declaration of interests nor the rules on paid advocacy”.

Ms Stone said that her investigation had taken “far too long to complete” and that “much of the delay is the result of Mr Paisley focusing his attention on rebutting allegations made in the media rather than on answering specifically my questions about his adherence to the rules of the House.

“I believe that in so doing, when he asked for the Registrar’s advice in December 2018, he did not disclose all of the relevant information.

“Had he disclosed more detail then about the nature of his relationship with one of the resort’s owners, his contact with that individual before and after his visit to the Maldives, and about other arrangements for his holiday, he would have been advised then to register the hospitality he had received and this matter could have been concluded very much sooner, early in 2019.”

However, Ms Stone said that she had concluded - but only just - that the issue could be dealt with by the less serious ‘rectification procedure’ which simply allows Mr Paisley to belatedly register the holiday, rather than face sanction.

Ms Stone said: “Although this is not the first time Mr Paisley has broken the rules on the registration of overseas visits, he received this hospitality before I had concluded my inquiry into that other matter.

“He has acknowledged this new breach of the rules. He has apologised unreservedly for it and he has agreed to rectify his omission. He has described to me the steps he has taken to avoid any further recurrence. He has also apologised for unnecessarily delaying my inquiry.”

Ms Stone’s report reveals that Mr Paisley initially expressed considerable concern about telling her the name of the “personal friend” who had part-funded the trip. However, he then gave her the name of an individual from England whose name has not been published by the commissioner but who is said to be the owner of a resort in the Maldives.

Mr Paisley said that he had first met the man a decade before in Central Methodist Hall in London after which they “struck up a friendship with each other and dined together”.

He said that “our interests were not in politics but other matters, including beliefs, family and travel”.

The BBC Spotlight programme had alleged that Mr Paisley’s holiday was arranged at the request of the Government of the Maldives and that the regime had funded it

However, Mr Paisley told the commissioner: “The Government had no role in my visit. They were never contacted about it and did not suggest, arrange, or pay for it. The first time I became aware of this untruthful claim was when the BBC contacted me by letter dated 3 December 2018.”

Ms Stone accepted that there was a “lack of evidence linking the hospitality to a foreign government and all the available evidence supports your account that your activities while staying at Coco Bodu Hithi were those of a family holiday”.

Declaring financial and other interests with the parliamentary authorities is a safeguard against either actual or perceived corruption or improper influence on a politician. MPs are told that they need to register interests “to provide information about any financial interest or other material benefit which a member receives which might reasonably be thought by others to influence his or her actions, speeches or votes in Parliament, or actions taken in his or her capacity as a Member of Parliament”.

MPs have 28 days in which to register an interest.

——— ———

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers — and consequently the revenue we receive — we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to newsletter.co.uk and enjoy unlimited access to the best Northern Ireland and UK news and information online and on our app. With a digital subscription, you can read more than 5 articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content. Visit https://www.newsletter.co.uk/subscriptions now to sign up.

Our journalism costs money and we rely on advertising, print and digital revenues to help to support them. By supporting us, we are able to support you in providing trusted, fact-checked content for this website.

Alistair Bushe

Editor