Tory MP implicated in Conservative Society tour charge

Greg Hands, MP for Chelsea and Fulham and parliamentary private secretary to George Osborne, is alleged to have been involved in the prohibited sale of tickets for a tour of the Houses of Parliament by the Conservative Society at Imperial.

Politicalscrapbook.net, which describes its content as “left wing news and gossip”, claimed that Imperial College London’s Conservative Society sold tickets for a “Houses of Parliament Tour with Greg Hands” to its members for five pounds. The blog points to a ‘What’s On’ advertisements in a copy of Felix dated October 2009 as evidence of its claim. The blog links to the issue published online and remarks “MPs can sponsor tours of Parliament for constituents who would like to visit. Tours are given to constituents free of charge, and must not be sold for profit to third parties” – a quote that it takes from the Speaker’s website.

The question which has arisen is whether Greg Hands providing these tickets to the Conservative Society with them selling for profit constitutes a breach of the regulation. In 2005, Conservative MP Jonathan Sayeed was expelled from the Tory party for profiting from private tours of Parliament.

Felix contacted Greg Hands, who clarified that he “didn’t give any such tour” and Hansard, a record of proceedings in Parliament, confirms he was leading a Westminster Hall debate on Russia on that date for the hours at which the tour was supposed to have taken place. He added, “I do regularly sponsor tours for constituents, schools and other groups connected to Chelsea and Fulham” and that they are free tours given by the House rather than himself. “I don’t play any direct part in organising them and I wouldn’t dream of charging anyone.”

At the time of print Felix is unable to clarify whether or not the tour went ahead as the Conservative Society was unavailable for comment. However, an unverified member purporting to represent ConSoc posted a comment explaining that the tickets were sold “in order to raise funds from their members to fund further events” and that this had “nothing to do with Greg Hands”. The user added, “five pounds was the minimum amount one could charge to sell tickets online” through the Union website. Hands mentioned that “anyone at Imperial who is a Chelsea or Fulham resident can contact [him] via the House of Commons, and Parliament will be able to arrange a free-of-charge tour.”