According to a joint investigation by the Sunday Times and Channel 4’s Dispatches, Andrew Lansley, Peter Lilley and Andrew Mitchell were caught red-handed trying to make money from providing data on Brexit negotiations to a Chinese company.
The Sunday Times found out that businesses were longing to get any information about the talks, as the much-anticipated process of with Britain’s withdrawal from the Union had triggered a “lobbying frenzy.” Later, undercover reporters invited a number of former ministers for alleged job interviews on the advisory board of Tianfen, a fake Chinese venture.
Lansley, former health secretary under David Cameron, was taped being offered tens of thousands of pounds, saying that if they employed him through his wife’s company, Low Europe, the deal could be kept secret from the government. He shared that he was already making 5,000 pounds a day by giving Brexit advice to his pharmaceutical clients.
READ MORE: UK Gov't Reassures Private Sector Over Brexit Concerns, Stresses Solid Growth
Lilley, who was the Conservative party’s deputy leader between 1998 and 1999, also was eager to cooperate with Tianfen. He revealed his “good relationships” with Liam Fox, Secretary of State for International Trade and David Davis, Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, saying he would be glad to contact them on behalf of Tianfen, which he denied last week, saying that any speculation that the company would get insider information was “wholly misplaced.”
As for, Mitchell, he wanted to give paid advice to the firm for 6,000 pounds a day, working up to 10 weeks a year. According to the Times, he already gets paid nearly 75,000 pounds for his job as an MP.
"My constituents don't mind what I'm paid," he said while being filmed.
In total, the Times has found out that more than 20 politicians are profiting from Brexit.
"To take advantage of this difficult time and confusion to make extra money doesn't demonstrate a great deal of concern for the public interest," said Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, after seeing the tapes.
