David Lammy investigated by parliamentary standards commissioner over late declarations

Shadow foreign secretary joins Keir Starmer and two Tory MPs under scrutiny of commissioner

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy (Aaron Chown/PA) (PA Wire)

Parliament's standards commissioner has opened an investigation into Labour MP David Lammy over allegedly failing to declare £27,000 in financial interests in good time.

On Monday the watchdog announced that the shadow foreign secretary was under investigation over late declarations of earnings and hospitality.

The late entries are believed to relate to payments for speeches during Black History Month and separate invites to Tottenham Hotspur football club, which is in his constituency.

The investigation comes after Labour leader Keir Starmer was placed under a similar investigation for alleged late declarations.

Two Tory MPs, Andrew Bridgen and Chris Philp, have also been under the microscope of the standards commissioner since February and March this year respectively.

Mr Philp is under suspicion of paid advocacy and breaches of declared interest rules, while Mr Philp has been accused of inappropriate use of his parliamentary email address.

Mr Lammy is understood to have already written to parliamentary authorities apologising for oversight and errors that led to late declarations.

A spokesperson for Mr Lammy said: “David Lammy takes his declaration responsibilities seriously. As soon as it was brought to his attention he wrote to Registrar of Members’ Financial Interests to apologise for the administrative errors in his office which led to late declarations in December last year.

“He has assured the registrar that he has put revised systems in place so that declarations are made in a timely manner. We are happy to provide the Parliamentary Standards Commissioner with any further information.”