Lee Anderson Broke Commons Rules By Filming GB News Advert In Parliament
Lee Anderson has been found guilty of breaking Commons rules by filming an advert for his GB News chat show in parliament without permission.
The controversial MP was also rapped by Westminster’s sleaze watchdog for using his parliamentary email address to send a newsletter to his constituents.
Daniel Greenberg, the parliamentary commissioner for standards, launched an inquiry after media reports claimed the Tory Party deputy chairman had filmed the ad on a parliamentary terrace.
Commons rules state that filming and photography can only be carried out with advance explicit permission, which is “unlikely” to be granted.
Greenberg said the Ashfield MP “accepted that he had failed to seek authorisation to film on the parliamentary estate, apologised and took responsibility for his decision”.
Separately, the commissioner received a complaint about Anderson’s use of his parliamentary email address.
The MP said the email had been sent from a distribution platform he had registered for using his parliamentary address.
Greenberg said: “Mr Anderson said, while he could see how a recipient might think the email had come from his parliamentary email account, it had in fact been sent via the email distribution platform.
“Mr Anderson confirmed that he had since changed the email address used by the email distribution platform.”
In his ruling, the commissioner said: “I found that by filming for a commercial purpose on the parliamentary estate without authorisation and by sending a newsletter which appeared to come from a parliamentary email address and included an advertisement for his television programme on the GB News channel, Mr Anderson had breached Rule 8 of the Code of Conduct.”
He said the MP had “acknowledged that the breaches occurred, apologised, and given an undertaking that breaches of this kind will not recur”.
The ruling found that Anderson’s breach was “inadvertent’, meaning no further action will be taken.
It is not the first time the outspoken MP has found himself in trouble.
He was criticised last month for saying migrants who did not want to board the Bibby Stockholm barge should “fuck off back to France” - although he was defended by ministers.
He was also slapped down by No.10 in July after he claimed the BBC was “a safe haven for perverts”.