With the focus on how much Saudi Arabia has spent on paying for MPs to visit their country, the BBC widened the focus to analyse the whole of Parliament’s expenses register to see how much has been spent on each MP on foreign trips.
Among the results is the Isle of Wight’s MP, Robert Seely. He’s far from the top of the list in amount spent or trips taken.
Three trips
The BBC list two trips in their date range (2 May 2016 and 18 June 2018), one to Bahrain and another to what is described as the ‘Israel/Palestinian territories’.
Outside the dates OnTheWight has found only one other trip in the publicly-accessible Expenses register.
The official details from Parliament’s expenses register are listed below.
Seely: Too busy to take advantage of invitations
Bob told OnTheWight,
“I generally don’t take advantage of the many invitations to travel because I am too busy in my work on the Island and in Parliament, where I hold more meetings with ministers than almost any other backbench MP.
“If I feel a visit is worthwhile or important, I will take it and I have done so occasionally since I was elected 18 months ago, particularly since being elected to the Foreign Affairs Committee.
“For example, I made a short visit to the Turkish/Syria border to meet with Syrian doctors dealing with the horrific Syrian war this summer, and to hear from them why hospitals were being deliberately targeted. Before that I visited Israel and the West Bank to hear from both Jewish and Palestinian inhabitants. I also visited the Ukrainian front line and Bahrain in the Gulf to understand Saudi/Iranian tensions.
“These are issues of concern to some constituents. They also come up in debate and are voted on. I believe that MPs should speak from a position of knowledge.
“These trips came at no cost to the taxpayer and are funded in a transparent way.”
Israel/Palestinian territories trip
| Name of donor/s | (1) Medical Aid for Palestinians and the (2) Conservative Friends of Israel Ltd, both based in London. |
| Address of donor/s | (1) 33a Islington Park Street, London N1 1QB (2) PO Box 72288, London SW1P 9LB |
| Estimate of the probable value (or amount of any donation) | (1) Flights, accommodation, food and transport £960 (2) accommodation, airport transfer and hospitality £500 |
| Destination of visit | West Bank and Israel |
| Dates of visit | 11 – 18 February 2018 |
| Purpose of visit | Fact finding visit organised by the Council for Arab-British Understanding, Medical Aid for Palestinians and Conservative Friends of Israel. |
| Registered | 01 March 2018 |
Bahrain trip
| Name of donor/s | Bahrain Embassy |
| Address of donor/s | 2 Upper Brook St, London W1K 6PA |
| Estimate of the probable value (or amount of any donation) | Travel and accommodation with a value of £2,950 |
| Destination of visit | Kingdom of Bahrain |
| Dates of visit | 5-8 April 2018 |
| Purpose of visit | To attend the opening of the UK/Bahrain Naval base, meet with Government Ministers, Members of the Federal National Council and senior business figures, in order to build on the bilateral relationship. |
| Registered | 04 May 2018 |
Turkey trip
| Name of donor/s | Syria Relief |
| Address of donor/s | Advocates House, 4 Market Street, Denton M34 2XW |
| Estimate of the probable value (or amount of any donation) | Flights £655; hotel in Anatakya £37; hotel in Gaziantep £37; total value £729 |
| Destination of visit | Antakya and Gaziantep, Turkey |
| Dates of visit | 18 – 20 July 2018 |
| Purpose of visit | To visit health facilities and hospitals provided by Syria Relief and the Union of Medical Care and Relief Organizations (UOSSM) and visit a surgical skills training course provided by the David Nott Foundation together with Syria relief and UOSSM. |
| Registered | 13 September 2018 |
Thanks to Nick Belfitt for the heads-up
Source: BBC
