Dorries' TV fees rules apology

Tory MP Nadine Dorries has apologised to the Commons for "inadvertently" breaching Commons rules by failing to properly register income from her media work, including ITV's I'm A Celebrity, after a critical report by the MPs' standards watchdog.

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Dorries apologises for 'genuinely inadvertent breach'

Conservative MP Nadine Dorries has apologised to the Commons for what she called "a genuinely inadvertent breach of the rules" relating to registering her fee for I'm A Celebrity.

Ms Dorries said in a statement, "I wish to apologise to the House fully and unreservedly for what was a genuinely inadvertent breach of the rules which I have at all times sought to comply ply with."

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Dorries' TV appearance linked to 'work in the House'

Tory MP Nadine Dorries should apologise to the Commons and properly register income from all her media work, a standards watchdog has recommended.

Standards Commissioner Kathryn Hudson found that the payments made to Ms Dorries as a result of her appearance on the show should have been declared.

The committee's report said: "Ms Dorries contended that such payments were made to a company, Averbrook Ltd, of which she is a director, and that she was not required to register income received by the company, but only any remuneration she drew from it.

We find it hard to believe she would have been invited to appear on I'm a Celebrity if she had not come to public prominence as a Member of the House.

It is clear that Ms Dorries's media work was remunerated, whether or not those payments were made to her or to her company.

We agree with the Commissioner that Ms Dorries should have registered payments for such media services even though those payments were made through Averbrook Ltd."

– Standards Committee

The report said that, while her media work may not have influenced her representation of her Mid Bedfordshire seat, it was "likely to have been linked to her work in the House".

You can read the report in full on the Standards Committee website.

MP Dorries told to apologise for not registering TV work

Nadine Dorries was suspended by her party when she appeared on an ITV reality show. Credit: ITV

Tory MP Nadine Dorries should apologise to the House of Commons and register all her income from media work, a parliamentary standards watchdog has recommended following an investigation into her appearance on I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here!

Ms Dorries refused to declare to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards how much she earned from the reality show because of a confidentiality agreement with ITV.

The House of Commons Standards Committee found Ms Dorries had failed to abide by the registrar's advice and had breached the code through her "attitude to the Commissioner's inquiries".

The committee recommended that Ms Dorries registers all payments in respect of her employment and "apologises to the House by way of a personal statement".

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