British Virgin Islands Commission of Inquiry/The Crown
- Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Cox represented the British Virgin Islands government in a corruption inquiry.
- Cox discussed the BVI's register of interests, drawing parallels to the UK Parliament's register.
- Cox said though disclosures are good, he noted "there are real drawbacks to open registers".
Video shows Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Cox bemoaning the "real drawbacks" of public registers of interests for legislators in a submission to a corruption inquiry in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), representing the tax haven's government.
Cox's work for the BVI government has come under scrutiny as part of a wider backlash over MPs' second jobs and outside interests.
These are published in the House of Commons's register of members' financial interests, which is meant to prevent MPs concealing conflicts of interest or income from sources other than their MP salary.
On June 21 2021, the inquiry was looking into BVI legislators' registration of interests, which is not made public in the territory.
Cox, a former UK Attorney General, told the inquiry: "Let me be quite candid. There are real drawbacks to open registers. It becomes a political tool for every – many, many frivolous complaints are made.
"It is a profound invasion into a legislator's private life because what happens is, as you can imagine, stories get written, minor infractions are written up to be morally shameful or even impute dishonesty.
"I accept the need for registers - of course I do; every legislator must - but there are perfectly understandable reticence to invite that kind of onslaught that that can sometimes mean."
Cox appears to have taken part in the inquiry remotely while using his Parliamentary office, The Times of London reported, an apparent breach of the rules.
Opposition politicians said Cox's comments were "no surprise".
Angela Rayner MP, Labour's deputy leader, told Insider: "It is no surprise that Geoffrey Cox is critical of registers of interests for MPs given the fact that he has himself appeared to have broken the rules in such an egregious, brazen manner.
"These comments are a further insult to the British public who will rightly be wondering why Geoffrey Cox thinks the rules don't apply to him.
"This is not about party politics as this is not a 'minor infraction'. This is about a Conservative MP using a taxpayer funded office in Parliament to work for a tax haven facing allegations of corruption, in breach of the rules that all MPs must follow."
"The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards must investigate this, and the Prime Minister needs to explain why he has an MP in his parliamentary party that treats Parliament like a co-working space allowing him to get on with all of his other jobs instead of representing his constituents.
"You can be an MP serving your constituents or a barrister working for a tax haven - you can't be both and Boris Johnson needs to make his mind up as to which one Geoffrey Cox will be."
Rayner has asked the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, who government ministers have suggested should resign, to investigate the potential breach.
Cox later told the inquiry he had "occasion to have fallen down" on the obligations to register interests, obliquely referring to two times the Standards Committee found that he made late declarations.
Cox was 13 months late in registering a financial interest in a property, the committee found in 2019.
He also did not declare payments worth more than £400,000 between January 2014 and August 2015 until September 2015.
'The purpose of elected office is to serve the public'
In comments first reported by Sky News, Cox spoke on behalf of "those I represent" that those in elected office should serve the public, and not seek to enrich themselves.
Cox has more outside earnings than any other British MP, registering £999,999.79 (excluding VAT) since the beginning of 2021.
Cox told the inquiry that "it is central to the democratic idea that the purpose of elected office is to serve the public, it is not to enrich the office-holder, and it is not to enrich the office-holder's personal connections.
"And Members should not use their position, plainly, to influence the legislative process for their own advantage or for someone to whom they are connected."
The BVI is a British overseas territory in the Caribbean, more than 4,000 miles from London.
Cox's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.